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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

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OF  CALIFORNIA 

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GIFT  OF 

John  W.   Beckman 


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CAROLINE  PERTHES 


THE 


CHRISTIAN  WIFJE 


CONDENSED   FROM   THE 

LIFE    OF   FREDERICK    CHRISTOPHER   PERTHES, 

BY 

MRS.    L.    C.    TUTHILL. 


NEW  YORK: 
ROBERT  CARTER  &  BROTHERS, 

No.   530   BROADWAY. 

1860. 


EDWARD  O.  JENKINS, 

printer  &  .Stcrcotaper, 
No.  2i  Frankfort  Street. 


PREFACE. 


In  the  "  Life  of  Frederick  Christopher  Perthes,"  it  is 
evident,  there  was  "  a  power  behind  the  throne  greater 
than  the  throne  itself." 

That  "  power "  was  the  influence  of  a  Christian 
wife  ; — a  woman  of  remarkably  good  sense,  of  superior 
education,  ardent  affections,  and  earnest  piety.  She 
was  the  good  angel,  given  by  God,  to  reveal  to  Perthes 
"  the  beauty  of  holiness." 

Her  true  womanliness,  her  devotedness  to  her  family, 
over  whom  she  exerted,  whether  present  or  absent,  a 
felicitous  influence,  and  her  success  in  the  education  of 
her  children,  render  Caroline  Perthes  a  noble  and  a 
cheering  example  for  all  who  would  "  do  likewise." 

It  is  fervently  hoped,  that  many,  who  would  never 
else  have  heard  of  Caroline  Perthes,  may  now  be  bene- 
fited by  her  beautiful  example. 

Pr{nceto7i,  N.  J.  L.  C.  T. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAO« 

L-CAROLINE  CLAUDIUS T 

II.— FKEDERICK  CHRISTOPHER  PERTHES 11 

III.— STUDIES  AND  FRIENDS  25 

IV.— FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF  HAMBURGH 86 

v.— ESTABLISHMENT  IN  BUSINESS 50 

VI.— NEW  ACQUAINTANCES 69 

VII.— THE  BETROTHAL  AND  WEDDING 68 

VIII.— THE  BUSINESS  AND  THE  FAMILY 82 

IX.— FAMILY  FRIENDS 91 

X.— PROGRESS  IN  RELIGION... 101 

XL— EVENTS  OF  THE  YEARS  1805  AND  1806 119 

XII.— LOSSES  AND  TRIALS 125 

XIII.— THE  FRENCH  IN  HAMBURGH 185 

XIV.— PATRIOTISM     150 

XV.— CAROLINE'S  ESCAPE  FROM  HAMBURGH 163 

X 71.— CAROLINE  AND  HER  CHILDREN  AT  ASCHAU— 1813.  .  178 

XVII.— THE  WIFE'S  TRIALS 183 

XVIIL— THE  HAMBURGH  SUFFERERS 198 

XIX.— PERTHES  AND  CAROLINE  AT  BLANKENESE— 1814...  206 

XX.— THE  RETURN 21T 

XXI.— MOMENTOUS  EVENTS 230 

XXII.— DEATH  OF  CLAUDIUS 240 

XXIIL— JOURNEY  TO  FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN 251 

XXIV.— PERTHES'  LETTERS   TO  CAROLINE 265 

XXV.— CORRES  PONDENCE  CONTINUED  2T5 

XXVI.— THE  SUMMER  OF  1819 293 

XXVII.— RELIGIOUS  CONFLICTS  OF  THE  PERIOD 300 

(V) 


6  CONTENTS. 

XXVIII.— MARRIAGE  OF  THE  ELDEST  DAUGHTER 809 

XXIX.— MARR I  AGE  OF  THE  SECOND  DAUGHTER 825 

XXX.— DEPARTURE  OF  THE  ELDEST  SON  FOR  THE  UNI- 
VERSITY    835 

XXXr.— THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  CAROLINE 852 

XXXII.— PERTHES  AND  HIS  MOTHERLESS  CHILDREN 867 

XXXIII.— GOTIIA 374 

XXXIV.— PERTHES'  VIEWS  OF  MEN  AND  THINGS 887 

XXXV.— PERTHES'  INNER  LIFE-1822  TO  1825 405 

XXXVI.— CHANGES  IN  LIFE 424 

XXXVII.— CORRESPONDENCE  ON  THE  RELATIONS  OF  LIFE...  488 

XXXVIII.— CHRISTIAN  ENTERPRISE 456 

XXXIX.— DEATH  OF  NIEBUHR 466 

XL.— DOMESTIC  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE 471 

XLL— LAST  YEARS 487 

XLIL— SICKNESS  AND  DEATH 607 


CAROLINE  PERTHES 

THE   CHRISTIAN  WIFE 


I. 


N  the  high-road  to  the  city  of  Lubeck,  in 
Northern  Germany,  is  the  neat  and  pleasant 
town  of  Wandsbeck,  in  Holstein.  Near  the 
entrance  to  Wandsbeck,  in  the  year  1796 
was  the  residence  of  Matthias  Claudius. 
Claudius  was  an  excellent,  popular  author, 
and  was  familiarly  called  the  "  Wandsbeck 
Messenger,"  from  a  periodical  which  he  edited,  entitled 
the  "  Wandsbecker  Bote."  He  was  at  once  earnest 
and  humorous  in  his  writings,  and  cared  less  for  the 
graces  of  diction,  than  for  the  inculcation  of  honest, 
noble,  charitable  and  patriotic  sentiments.  The  sickly 
complexion,  the  hair  tightly  drawn  back  and  fastened 
with  a  comb,  the  ungainly  figure,  the  homely  dressing- 
gown,  and  the  Low-Saxon  dialect,  would  hardly  have 
revealed  the  treasure  that  was  hidden  in  this  extraor- 
dinary man,  had  it  not  been  for  the  heavenly  fire  which 
flashed  from  his  fine  blue  eye. 

Altogether  opposed  to  the  prevailing  notions  of  the 
period,  which  had  a  tendency  to  subject  religion  and 

(7) 


8  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

politics,  more  or  less,  to  the  wavering  opinions  of  man, 
Claudius  found  in  the  revelation  of  Holy  Writ  the  only 
source  of  true  religion.  The  belief  that  he  was  rec- 
onciled to  God,  being  to  him  not  a  mere  speculative 
doctrine,  b«t  a  state  of  mind  acting  upon  his  whole 
inner  being,  all  sad  and  disturbing,  all  gloomy  and 
anxious  thoughts,  were  unknown  to  him  and  his  house- 
hold. "  I  found  Claudius  as  harmless  and  as  full  of 
German  humor  as  ever,"  said  Ewald,  when  he  visited 
him  in  1796,  in  the  expectation  of  finding  a  gloomy 
fanatic  ;  "  and,"  he  adds,  "  whatever  may  be  said  of  his 
religious  and  political  opinions,  they  have  not  chaiiged 
the  man  :  he  has  no  gloomy  views,  and  is  kindly  to- 
wards all;  indeed,  he  laughs  at  many  things  which 
would  half  kill  with  vexation  many  of  our  humanity 
and  tolerance  and  stoicism  preachers." 

The  characteristics  of  the  father's  mind,  which  was 
incapable  of  developing  intellectual  greatness  and 
depth  otherwise  than  in  a  garb  of  unattractive  comeli- 
ness, or  invested  in  forms  that  were  all  but  ludicrous, 
as  well  as  the  noble  and  womanly  simplicity  of  the 
mother,  were  reflected  in  the  daily  life  of  the  family. 
The  great  works  of  Palestrina,  Leonardo  Leo,  Bach, 
Handel,  and  Mozart,  the  language  and  literature  of 
England,  and  intellectual  pursuits  of  all  kinds,  found 
a  home  here,  side  by  side  with  an  extreme  simplicity 
of  life.  The  daughters  were  brought  up  to  discharge 
the  daily  routine  of  domestic  work.  Claudius  was 
most  careful  to  develop  and  strengthen  the  germ  of 
spiritual  life  in  his  children,  but  in  every  other  respect 
left  them  to  themselves.  It  is  true,  that  he  had  himself 
to  struggle  with  the  enemy  in  the  human  heart,  which 
in  his  case  led  to  the  exhibition,  in  many  circumstances, 


CAROLINE   CLAUDIUS.  9 

of  a  seemingly  inborn  harshness  of  nature,  and  to  his 
allowing  a  greater  influence  to  the  impressions  of  the 
moment  than  was  reasonable  ;  this  infirmity,  however, 
in  no  way  disturbed  the  free  and  unrestrained  move- 
ments of  the  family  life.  Affected  and  pretentious 
alternations  from  the  earthly  to  the  heavenly  were  not 
known  among  them  ;  their  life  was  simple  and  natural. 

Caroline  Claudius,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Wands- 
beck  Messenger,  was  born  in  1774.  Althougli  there 
was  nothing  remarkable  or  dazzling  in  her  general  ap- 
pearance, notwithstanding  her  fine  regular  features, 
her  slender  figure,  and  her  delicate  complexion,  yet 
the  treasures  of  fancy  and  feeling,  the  strength  and 
repose  of  character,  and  the  clearness  of  intellect  which 
shone  in  her  deep  liazel  eyes,  gave  her  a  quiet  but 
irresistible  charm.  Throughout  her  whole  life  she 
inspired  unbounded  confidence  in  all  who  approached 
her.  To  her  the  glad  brought  their  joys,  secure  of 
finding  joyous  sympathy,  and  to  many  of  the  afflicted 
both  in  body  and  in  mind,  she  ministered  consolation, 
taught  resignation,  and  inspired  them  with  fresh  cour- 
age. Accustomed  to  the  simple  life  of  her  parental 
home,  contact  with  the  bustle  of  the  outward  world 
appeared  to  her  as  fraught  with  danger  to  her  child- 
like, simple  walk  with  God.  Household  duties,  study, 
and  music,  occupied  her  time.  When  more  advanced 
in  life,  she  retained  a  rich,  clear  voice,  and  a  fine  musi- 
cal taste.  She  was  acquainted  with  the  modern  lan- 
guages, and  had  gone  far  enough  in  Latin  to  enable 
her  subsequently  to  assist  her  sons. 

While  Caroline  had  remained  at  home,  she  had 
received  but  few  impressions  from  witliout.  She  clung 
with  reverential  affection  to  the  Princess  Gallitziu, 
1^ 


10  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

who  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  her  father's  house,  and 
who  reciprocated  the  attachment  with  so  much  warmth, 
that  to  the  end  of  her  life  she  preserved  a  motherly 
friendship  for  her.  By  the  Countess  Julia  Reventlow, 
Caroline  was  equally  beloved.  She  had  been  to  Em- 
kendorf  on  a  visit  of  some  months  in  the  summer  of 
1795,  and  had  become  so  great  a  favorite  with  the 
family,  that  they  would  have  taken  her  with  them  to 
Italy,  had  they  been  able  to  obtain  her  father's  consent. 
The  first  great  event  in  her  life  was  the  death  of  her 
sister  Christian,  who  was  only  a  year  or  two  younger 
than  herself.  A  letter  that  she  wrote  at  this  time  to 
the  Countess  Reventlow  at  Rome,  has  been  preserved. 

"  I  am,"  she  says,  "  like  a  little  child,  who,  when  it  is 
in  trouble,  stretches  out  its  arms  to  those  it  loves,  and 
finds  pleasure  in  weeping  on  their  bosom.  How  often 
have  I  tlius  wished  to  be  witli  you,  dear  Countess !  but 
though  my  arms  cannot  reach  you,  my  letter  may.  We 
have  had  a  sad  time !  Our  dear  Christian  was  attacked 
with  nervous  fever,  and  died  on  the  2d  July.  Gently 
she  fell  asleep,  after  having  suffered  much  ;  and  now 
that  the  pains  of  death  are  over,  I  would  not  Avish  her 
back.  How  dear  has  the  death-bed  become  to  me ! — it 
is  at  such  times  that  we  feel  deeply,  and  in  a  manner 
that  we  can  never  forget,  how  necessary  it  is  to  seek 
for  something  that  may  support  us  in  death,  and  ac- 
company us  beyond." 

It  was  on  the  27th  of  November,  1796,  that  Perthes 
first  saw  Caroline  in  her  father's  house.  "  Her  bright 
eyes,  and  her  open,  clear  look  pleased  me,  and  I  loved 
her,"  said  Perthes. 

And  who  was  Perthes  ? 

This  short  question  demands  a  long  answer. 


n. 


HE  year  1772  was  a  very  calamitous  year  for 
Germany.  Dearth  and  famine  were  almost 
everywhere  prevalent,  while  scarcely  any  dis- 
trict escaped  the  visitation  of  a  malignant 
pestilence.  It  was  in  this,  "  the  great  hun- 
ger-year," as  it  was  called,  that  Frederick 
Christopher  Perthes  was  born  at  Rudolf- 
stadt,  on  the  21st  of  April. 

His  father  studied  jurisprudence  at  the  University 
of  Jena,  and  on  his  return  to  Rudolfstadt  entered  into 
the  service  of  the  court.  In  the  course  of  time  lie  was 
promoted  to  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Exchequer, 
and  exercised  jurisdiction  over  the  estates  of  many 
noble  families.  He  was  but  seven-and-thirty  yeai^'s  of 
age  when  his  wife  Margaretha  Heubel  stood  by  hi^ 
death-bed. 

The  secretary  left  his  family  almost  destitute.  The 
widow  found  her  pension  of  twenty-one  florins  entirely 
inadequate.  She  was  soon  received,  however,  as  an 
inmate  into  a  kinsman^s  family,  which  stood  in  need  of 
her  services  as  a  nurse.  Her  mother,  almost  as  desti' 
tute  of  means  as  herself,  offered  a  home  to  the  father- 
(11) 


12  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

less  boy.  But  the  grandmother  died,  when  he  was 
only  seven  years  old,  leaving  him  to  the  compassionate 
care  of  Frederick  IJeubel,  his  maternal  uncle. 

In  1779,  when  still  a  youth,  Heubel  had  returned  from 
the  University  to  his  native  district,  penniless  like  the 
rest  of  his  brothers  and  sisters.  An  office  in  the 
Prince's  service,  though  a  help,  was  by  no  means  a 
provision.  He  kept  house  in  Rudolfstadt  with  an  un- 
married sister,  Caroline  Heubel.  Though  not  pos- 
sessed of  beauty,  Miss  Caroline  had  great  strength  of 
character.  Ever  ready  to  help  others,  to  accept  help 
herself  was  even  in  extreme  age  intolerable  to  her  :  to 
independence  in  every  form,  even  though  associated 
with  grinding  poverty,  she  was  almost  passionately 
attached. 

Such  was  the  household  into  which  the  little  Fred- 
erick Christopher  was  received  and  brought  up,  with 
tender  and  even  parental  affection.  The  impressions 
of  liis  childhood  were  so  deeply  graven  as  to  influence 
him  throughout  life.  Born  with  a  very  excitable  tem- 
perament, he  always  ascribed  to  his  uncle  and  aunt  the 
horror  with  which  he  regarded  every  kind  of  immor- 
ality ;  and  he  also  attributed  to  them  that  respect  for 
the  rights  of  others  which  is  alien  to  extremely  ener- 
getic characters  such  as  his,  in  which  there  is  too  fre- 
quently a  tendency  to  inconsiderateness. 

The  boy's  first  instructor  was  his  uncle  :  he  subse- 
quently took  part  in  the  lessons  of  the  tutors  of  some 
noble  families  ;  and,  finally,  after  frequenting  for  some 
time  the  classes  of  the  court-pages,  he  entered  the 
gymnasium  of  Budolfstadt,  when  twelve  years  old,  but 
not  sufficiently  advanced  to  profit  by  the  instructions 
which  he  there  received. 


FREDERICK    CHRISTOPHER   PERTHES.  13 

Heubel  was  promoted  to  the  office  of  Master  of  the 
Horse,  and  Overseer  of  Forests,  and  resided  in  the 
castle  of  Schwartzburg.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in 
all  the  great  movements  of  the  time,  and  like  his  con- 
temporaries hailed  the  French  Revolution  with  delight. 
Yet,  in  the  cause  of  his  prince,  he  was  ready,  at  any 
moment,  to  have  sacrificed  both  fortune  and  life. 
The  young  Perthes  was  not  fond  of  study,  but  his 
uncle,  who  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  nature,  succeeded 
in  rousing  into  activity  the  same  hitherto  undeveloped 
"faculty." 

Heubel  would  keep  Perthes  for  months  together  in 
his  apartments  at  Schwartzburg,  and  take  him  with 
him  when  he  wandered  over  hill  and  valley  in  his  offi- 
cial visitations  of  the  forests,  or  when  sojourning  for  a 
time  in  the  huts  of  the  fowlers.  On  these  occasions 
he  would  exact  from  him  great  physical  exertions. 
The  remembrance  of  these  excursions  was  never  oblit- 
erated from  the  boy's  mind.  The  dusky  pines  that 
clothe  the  mountain-slopes  of  that  wondrously  beauti- 
ful region,  the  roar  of  the  Schwarza,  as  far  below  in 
the  valley  it  winds  round  the  base  of  the  liill  on  which 
the  castle  is  built,  were  indelibly  impressed  upon  his 
memory. 

AVhen  he  had  reached  his  fourteenth  year,  and  had 
been  confirmed,  it  was  thought  necessary  to  choose  a 
calling  for  him.  To  allow  him  to  continue  his  studies 
was  impossible,  and  from  the  mercantile  life,  as  known 
in  Rudolfstadt,  he  shrank  with  aversion.  His  father's 
youngest  brother,  Justus  Perthes,  was  a  successful  pub- 
lisher and  bookseller  at  Gotha,  and  it  was  natural  for 
them  to  think  of  that  business  for  the  boy.  Of  its  na- 
ture and  details  he  was  utterly  ignorant,  for  there  was 


14  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

no  bookseller  in  Rudolfstadt ;  but  that  there  must  be 
books  for  him  to  read  seemed  certain,  and  this  was 
decisive. 

In  the  year  1786,  Schirach  the  printer  took  the  boy 
with  him  to  the  fair  at  Leipzig,  to  seek  a  master.  He 
was  then  fourteen  years  of  age.  The  first  person  to 
whom  he  introduced  him  was  Herr  Ruprecht  of  Got- 
tingen,  an  aged  man,  who  spoke  kindly  to  him,  and 
desired  him  to  conjugate  the  verb  amo  ;  but  when  he 
found  this  too  great  a  demand  on  his  learning,  he  re- 
fused to  engage  him.  He  was  then  taken  to  Herr 
Siegert  at  Liegnitz  ;  but  tlie  tall,  gaunt  figure  of  the 
man  in  his  long,  flame-colored  overcoat,  reaching  to 
the  heels,  so  frightened  him  that  he  could  not  say  a 
word  ;  "  he  was  too  shy  for  the  book-trade,''  it  was 
said.  At  last,  however,  Adam  Frederick  Bohme,  who 
carried  on  business  in  Leipzig,  and  supplied  the  Ru- 
dolfstadt library  with  books,  showed  himself  disposed 
to  take  him,  but ''  the  boy  must  go  home  for  a  year  ; 
he  is  too  delicate  for  the  work  yet."  When  a  year  had 
elapsed,  indentures  were  sighed  by  the  uncle  and  the 
future  master. 

On  Sunday,  the  9th  of  September,  1787,  the  boy  of 
fifteen  took  his  seat  in  the  open  mail,  to  begin  Die 
great  journey  of  life.  "  In  the  evening,  at  Saalfeld,  I 
felt  very  sad,"  he  wrote  to  his  uncle,  "  but  I  met  with 
many  kind  people."  On  a  cold  and  rainy  day  lie 
passed  through  Neustadt,  Gera,  and  Zeitz  ;  and  on 
Tuesday,  the  11th  of  September,  at  three  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  reached  his  master's  house  in  Leipzig. 

"  Why,  boy,  you  are  no  bigger  than  you  were  a  year 
ago,  but  we  will  make  a  trial  of  it,  and  see  how  we 
get  on  together,"  exclaimed  Bohme.     His  wife  and  her 


FREDERICK   CHRISTOPHER   PERTHES.  15 

six  daughters  and  little  son,  as  well  as  an  apprentice 
who  had  been  resident  four  years,  all  received  him 
kindly. 

'^  I  like  Leipzig  very  much,"  wrote  Perthes,  imme- 
diately on  his  arrival  ;  "  and  I  hope  all  will  go  well, 
especially  as  my  comrade  is  a  very  honest  fellow.  The 
young  ladies  also  seem  extraordinarily  kind  ;  Fred- 
erika,  my  master's  second  daughter,  came  into  my  room 
in  order,  as  she  said,  to  drive  away  fancies  and  whims." 

"  Herewith,"  writes  his  master,  "  I  have  the  honor 
to  inform  you  that  young  Perthes  has  arrived  safe  and 
in  good  health.  I  hope  we  shall  be  pleased  with  each 
other.  His  pocket-money,  which,  according  to  this 
day's  exchange,  amounts  to  one  dollar  and  twenty 
groschen,  I  have  taken  charge  of,  for  we  cannot  tell 
into  what  company  he  might  fall.  One  request  I  have 
to  make,  and  that  is,  that  when  in  future  you  favor  me 
with  your  letters,  you  will  have  the  goodness  to  omit 
the  *  Well-born'*  on  the  address,  for  it  is  not  at  all 
appropriate  to  me." 

On  the  morning  after  his  arrival,  the  first  words 
young  Perthes  heard  were  these, — "  Frederick,  you 
must  let  your  hair  grow  in  front  to  a  brush,  and  be- 
hind to  a  cue,  and  get  a  pair  of  wooden  buckles — lay 
aside  your  sailor's  round  hat — a  cocked  one  is  or- 
dered." This  once  universal  custom  had  latterly  dis- 
appeared, but  Bohme  tolerated  no  new  fashions  among 
his  apprentices.  "  You  are  not  to  leave  the  house, 
either  morning  or  evening,  without  my  permission. 
On  Sundays  you  must  accompany  me  to  church." 

The  two  apprentices  certainly  were  not  spoiled  by 

wen— Esquire. 


16  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

over-indulgence.  Their  master's  house  was  in  Nicholas 
street,  and  there  they  had  an  inner  chamber  up  four 
pair  of  stairs,  so  overcrowded  with  two  beds  and 
stools,  the  table  and  the  two  trunks,  wliich  constituted 
its  whole  furniture,  as  scarcely  to  admit  of  their  turn- 
ing in  it.  One  little  window  opened  on  the  roof ;  in 
the  corner  was  a  small  stove,  heated  during  the  winter 
by  three  small  logs  of  wood,  doled  out  every  evening 
as  their  allowance.  Every  morning  at  six  o'clock 
they  both  received  a  cup  of  tea,  and  every  Sunday,  as 
a  provision  for  the  coming  week,  seven  lumps  of  sugar, 
and  seven  halfpence  to  purchase  bread. 

"  What  1  find  hardest,"  said  Perthes  to  his  uncle  at 
Schwartzburg,  "  is,  that  I  have  only  a  halfpenny  roll 
in  the  morning — I  find  this  to  be  scanty  allowance. 
In  the  afternoon,  from  one  till  eight,  we  have  not  a 
morsel — that  is  what  I  call  hunger  ;  I  think  we  ought 
to  have  something."  Dinner  and  supper  they  took 
with  the  family,  plentifully  and  well  ;  but,  alas  !  for 
tliem,  when  some  fat  roast,  with  gourd-sauce,  was  set 
upon  the  table,  for  it  was  a  law  that  whatever  was  put 
upon  the  plate  must  be  eaten.  The  "Er,"*  with 
which  Bohme  was  always  addressed,  not  only  by  his 
children,  but  also  by  his  servants  and  dependants, 
mortified  Perthes,  but  he  wrote  cheerfully,  ''  Not  the 
slightest  thing  is  required  of  me  which  could  hurt  my 
feelings  ;  while  other  apprentices  have  to  clean  their 
master's  buckles,  to  cover  the  table,  and  take  the  cof- 
fee to  the  warehouse,  none  of  these  things  are  required 
of  us." 

^  Used  by  children  towards  a  parent  only  when  a  constrained  re- 
spect is  stronger  than  affection. 


FREDERICK   CHRISTOPHER   PERTHES.  17 

Bohme  was  not  indeed  a  man  of  varied  learning  or 
great  mental  powers  ;  but  he  had  a  good  understand- 
ing, a  character  of  the  strictest  integrity,  and  was  not 
without  reverence  for  knowledge  and  all  noble  things. 
He  labored  uninterruptedly  every  day,  from  seven  in 
the  morning  till  eight  at  night,  with  the  intermission 
of  one  hour  at  noon.  Sunday,  after  service,  was  de- 
voted to  the  *'  Jena  Literary  Gazette,"  every  word  of 
which  he  faithfully  perused,  and  then  took  a  walk 
round  the  city.  He  never  played,  never  entered  a 
public-house,  never  received  company  at  home,  and 
drank  nothing  stronger  than  water.  Occasionally  in 
the  summer  he  would  go  over  to  Entritzsch  with  his 
family,  and  drink  a  bottle  of  gose,'^  and  once  in  the 
course  of  the  year  he  was  accustomed  to  make  an  ex- 
cursion to  the  valley  of  Storm,  about  twelve  miles 
from  Leipzig,  in  company  with  his  whole  household — 
wife,  children,  and  apprentices.  He  was  exceedingly 
good-natured,  but  equally  irritable,  and  apt  when  ex- 
cited to  give  vent  to  a  torrent  of  abuse.  Great  were 
the  sufferings  of  Perthes  from  this  irritability,  during 
the  two  years  of  his  inexperience  in  the  business. 

"  That  which  troubles  me  most,"  writes  the  boy,  "is 
my  master's  passionate  temper.  If  we  have  made  the 
slightest  blunder,  he  breaks  out  upon  us  ;  this  is  very 
different  from  what  I  have  been  accustomed  to,  and  I 
feel  it  very  hard  to  bear,  but  I  shall  get  used  to  it  in 
time." 

When  the  fit  of  passion  was  over,  Bohme  would 
good-naturedly  endeavor  to  make  peace  with  the  boy 
by  bringing  him  fruit,  or  sharing  with  him  his  after- 

*  A  kind  of  liirht-colored  beer. 


18  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

noon  coffee,  and  the  accompanying  lumps  of  sugar. 
This  most  temperate  man,  and  stern  disciplinarian, 
had  a  heavy  domestic  sorrow  to  bear.  His  wife  was 
addicted  to  strong  drinks,  and  the  household  economy 
accordingly,  so  far  as  it  depended  on  her,  fell  into 
disorder.  This  melancholy  failing  frequently  put  the 
poor  apprentices  in  the  most  painful  position. 

"  I  am  often  in  perplexity,"  wrote  Perthes,  "  out  of 
which  i  cannot  extricate  myself,  for  Madame  has  things 
brought  to  her  in  secret,  which  she  quickly  disposer  of. 
The  master  would  fain  know  all  that  passes,  and  I 
woilld  gladly,  like  an  honest  servant,  tell  all  to  one. 
who  though  weak  is  so  good  at  heart,  were  it  not 
that  I  should  thus  only  insure  my  own  misery,  for 
many  occasions  arise  in  which  he  cannot  protect  me, 
and  which  he  is  powerless  to  alter :  from  seven  o'clock 
in  the  morning  till  eight  at  night,  he  is  at  business, 
and  the  children  do  as  they  please,  the  mother  being 
quite  unable  to  restrain  them." 

The  time  of  the  apprentice  was  wholly  occupied  by 
the  work  at  the  warehouse,  which  was  situated  in  the 
old  Neumarkt.  "  I  have  not  much  enjoyment  of  our 
little  room,"  he  writes,  "  for  we  begin  work  at  seven 
o'clock,  return  to  dinner  at  half-past  twelve,  and  are 
at  business  again  from  one  till  eight ;  then  comes  sup- 
per, and  it  is  only  after  this  that  we  have  any  time  to 
ourselves.  We  dare  on  no  account  leave  the  house  in 
the  evening.  On  Sunday  we  must  go  early  to  church, 
and  to  none  but  St.  Peter's.  In  the  afternoon,  after  a 
sharp  cross-examination,  he  lets  us  out  for  a  couple  of 
hours."  The  employment  was,  during  the  first  year 
and  -a  half,  wholly  mechanical.  When  books  published 
by  a  Leipzig  bookseller  were  ordered,  if  not  among 


FREDERICK    CHRISTOPHER   PERTHES.  19 

Bohme's  stock,  they  had  to  be  obtained  from  other 
warehouses.  This  part  of  the  business  fell  to  the 
youngest  apprentice,  and  gave  him  at  first  enough 
to  do. 

"  There  are  so  many  little  details  in  our  business," 
he  writes,  "  that  it  takes  some  time  for  a  beginner  to 
understand  them,  and  the  master  booksellers  use  ab- 
breviations for  everything,  such  as  the  titles  of  books, 
and  so  forth.  After  a  year  or  so  one  understands  this, 
but  a  beginner  is  sure  to  make  blunders,  and  if  I  ask 
a  question,  I  get  for  answer  nothing  but  *  Don't  you 
understand  German  ? '  " 

The  work  which  fell  to  him  as  the  youngest  appren- 
tice, kept  him  in  the  streets  or  in  the  warehouses  of 
other  publishers  during  the  whole  of  the  first  winter. 
His  vivacity,  united  with  great  modesty  of  demeanor, 
won  for  him  the  favor  of  all  the  trade  ;  he  was  the 
only  apprentice  who  was  allowed  the  privilege  of 
warming  himself  in  the  counting-houses  while  the  books 
he  came  for  were  being  fetched.  His  hard  lot  excited 
sympathy.  When  towards  dusk  he  returned  half 
frozen  and  with  wet  feet  to  the  warehouse,  he  had  to 
stand  for  hours  upon  the  stone  flags  collating.  Bdhme, 
who  had  never  been  ill  in  his  life,  and  was  particularly 
hardy,  never  had  the  shop  heated,  but  kept  himself 
warm  by  dint  of  stamping  his  feet  and  rubbing  his 
hands.  He  was  not  more  considerate  of  others  than 
careful  of  himself.  The  consequence  was,  that  in  the 
first  winter  of  his  residence  at  Leipzig,  Perthes'  feet 
were  frost-bitten  ;  Bohme  saw  his  distress,  but  took  no 
notice  until  he  was  unable  to  walk,  when  the  nearest 
surgeon  was  at  last  sent  for.  Eckhold  came,  and  at 
once  declared  that  if  another  day  had  been  allowed  to 


20  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

pass,  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  amputate  the 
feet.  Nine  long  weeks  the  boy  lay  in  his  bed  in  the 
little  attic  chamber,  but  not  neglected — for  his  master's 
second  daughter,  Frederika,  a  lovely  child  of  twelve 
years,  took  him  under  her  charge,  and  tended  him  with 
care  and  affection.  All  day  long  she  sat,  knitting- 
needles  in  hand,  by  the  bedside  of  the  invalid,  talking 
with  him,  consoling,  and  ministering. 

Upon  the  floor,  among  other  old  books,  lay  a  trans- 
lation of  Muratori's  "  History  of  Italy  ;"  and  the  poor 
girl,  with  never-failing  kindness,  read  through  several 
of  the  ponderous  quartos  in  the  little  dusky  attic.  A 
devoted  friendship  between  the  children,  the  result  of 
these  tender  attentions,  continued  long  after  he  had 
need  of  her  nursing. 

But  apart  from  the  sufferings  of  these  months,  the 
boy  who,  under  the  faithful  and  kind  though  strict 
training  of  his  relations,  had  grown  up  in  the  free  and 
unlimited  enjoyment  of  wood  and  mountain,  often  felt 
oppressed  by  the  great  city  and  its  flat,  treeless  suburbs, 
no  less  than  by  the  unhappy  relations  subsisting  in  his 
master's  family,  and  that  restraint  and  unbroken  daily 
routine  of  business-life,  which  permitted  freedom  neither 
of  thought  nor  of  action.  His  heart  turned  with  yearn- 
ing to  the  years  of  early  childhood,  and  especially  to 
the  little  incidents  of  the  residence  with  his  uncle  at 
Schwartzburg,  where  he  had  wandered  at  will  over 
hill  and  dale.  All  the  letters  written  at  this  time,  and 
even  those  of  a  later  date,  bear  witness  to  his  tender 
recollections  of  those  happy  hours  which  he  was  never 
again  to  enjoy.  "  All  is  well  with  me,"  he  writes  on 
one  occasion,  "  but  for  a  sort  of  melancholy  of  quite  a 
special  kind  ;  for  when  I  am  alone  I  fall  to  thinking 


FREDERICK    CHRISTOPHER   PERTHES.  21 

of  my  former  happy  life,  now  forever  passed  away. 
Now  this  well-known  rock,  now  another,  rises  before 
me.  Then  the  path  to  the  fowling-floor,  to  Dettens- 
dorf,  and  the  spot  where  Spitz  couched  and  Matzen 
yelped.  Every  bush  is  imprinted  on  my  memory  :  often 
when  I  awake  at  night,  or  look  out  upon  tlie  early 
morning  mist,  I  think  now  my  uncle  is  saying  to  Mat- 
zen, '  To-day  there  will  be  good  sport  upon  the  fowling- 
ground.'  Then  I  see  you  ranging  the  woods  with  your 
lanterns,  and  when  you  have  caught  anything,  I  fancy 
I  hear  you  crying  out,  '  0  that  Fritz  were  here !'  .  .  . 
Ah  !  how  many  sweet  recollections  of  Schwartzburg, 
and  of  that  bygone  time,  are  in  my  heart."  And  he 
writes  on  another  occasion,  "  Here,  in  a  neighboring 
village,  called  Gohlis,  there  is  a  cowherd  who  blows 
his  horn  as  skilfully  as  the  Schwartzburg  trumpeter 
of  yore.  I  can  hear  him  in  my  bed,  and  you  can  not 
imagine  what  a  strange  feeling  comes  over  me,  and  the 
peculiar  kind  of  sadness  to  which  it  gives  rise." 

Still  the  longing  after  his  beloved  Schwartzburg  had 
not  taken  such  absolute  possession  of  the  boy  as  to 
hinder  his  enjoyment  of  new  books,  and  of  such  events 
as  the  varied  life  of  Leipzig  brought  before  him.  Now 
it  was  a  comment  on  some  facetious  scene  out  of  Sieg- 
fried von  Lindenberg,  or  the  fine  comedy  of  "  Frederick 
with  the  Bitten  Cheek,"  or  a  passage  out  of  Yillaume's 
"  Logic,"  that  filled  his  letters  ;  again  Blanchard's 
ascent  in  an  air-balloon,  or  some  procession  of  the 
Leipzig  students,  delighted  his  boyish  fancy  ;  six  pos- 
tilions in  front,  then  the  riding-master  Herzberg,  fol- 
lowed by  eighty  students  on  horseback,  and  sixteen 
curricles — a  magnificent  spectacle  ! 

"  To-day,"  he  writes,  "  I  have  seen  a  military  funeral ; 


22  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

it  was  very  grand,  but  I  wish  I  had  not  seen  it,  for  the 
officer  lived  in  the  suburbs,  and  I  cannot  go  there  now, 
the  spectacle  has  made  me  so  sad."  But  it  was  the 
annual  Book-fair,  the  first  he  had  seen  in  Leipzig,  that 
excited  him  more  than  anything  else.  It  brought  in- 
deed days  of  severe  toil :  "  but  I  do  not  even  feel  the 
labor,"  he  wrote,  "  when  I  think  of  the  few  minutes 
which  I  may  spend  with  my  uncle,  who  arrived  from 
Gotha  on  Monday.  He  has  been  so  kind  to  me  during 
the  whole  time  of  liis  stay,  that  I  often  felt  as  if  I  had 
a  father,  and  could  confide  all  my  thoughts  and  feelings 
to  him." 

During  the  first  year  and  a  half  of  his  residence  at 
Leipzig,  Perthes  had,  indeed,  gained  but  little  knowl- 
edge and  small  insight  into  business  from  his  own  special 
labor,  but  he  had  acquired  experience  and  considerable 
moral  strength,  for  both  of  which  he  was  chiefly  in- 
debted to  the  influence  that  his  fellow-apprentice, 
Rabenhorst,  exercised  over  him.  The  inward  shrink- 
ing from  all  coarseness  and  impurity,  implanted  and 
cherished  by  the  lessons  of  his  aunt  and  uncle  in  his 
childish  years,  was  to  him  an  invaluable  possession,  of 
wliich  he  was  deeply  sensible. 

''  Dearest  uncle,"  he  writes,  '*  if  I  am  good  now,  and 
continue  so,  I  have  to  thank  you  and  my  aunt  for  it ; — 
certainly  not  myself,  for  if  1  had  fallen  into  bad  hands, 
my  levity  of  disposition  might  easily  have  led  me  into 
vice."  His  lively  and  excitable  temperament  could 
not  dispense  with  some  moral  support  even  after  he 
entered  into  Leipzig  life,  and  this  he  found  in  Raben- 
horst,  then  eighteen  years  of  age,  distinguished  equally 
for  his  acquirements,  for  his  business  talents,  and  gen- 
eral character. 


FREDERICK   CHRISTOPHER    PERTHES.  23 

"  I  thank  God,"  writes  Perthes  to  his  uncle,  "  that  I 
came  here,  and  that  entirely  on  account  of  my  com- 
rade, whose  conduct  is  so  good  an  example  for  me  ;  if 
it  had  not  been  f©r  this,  the  ways  of  the  world  would 
inevitably  have  led  me  quite  astray.  You  thought 
that  I  should  get  into  good  society  here,  but  this  is 
impossible  without  money  ;  for  those  who  have  posi- 
tion or  fortune  are  very  exclusive,  and  the  pride  of  the 
merchants'  sons,  who  can  afford  to  play  a  four-groschen 
game  at  billiards,  and  drink  a  bottle  of  wine  out  of 
their  very  pocket-money,  presents  an  impassable  bar- 
rier to  my  intercourse  with  them.  The  booksellers' 
apprentices  are,  with  only  two  exceptions,  dissipated 
youths,  who  spend  the  Sunday,  their  only  holiday,  at 
the  taverns  in  all  kinds  of  excess.  Now  you  will  con- 
fess, that  had  I  been  left  to  mix  with  these,  I  should 
have  made  shipwreck  of  all  the  good  principles  I 
derived  from  you.  Men  liere  must  live  like  others,  or 
make  up  their  minds  to  be  persecuted  ;  but  Rabenhorst 
has  been  my  support." 

In  other  respects,  the  elder  comrade  was  of  great 
service  to  the  inexperienced  boy  ;  he  taught  him  pru- 
dence in  the  troubled  economy  of  their  master's  house, 
he  made  him  attentive  to  such  details  of  business  as  he 
could  master  without  extraneous  help,  and  was  always 
urging  him  to  exert  himself  in  order  to  redeem  lost 
time.  But  what  he  was  chiefly,  though  unconsciously, 
the  means  of  bestowing  on  his  friend  was,  ease  in  his 
intercourse  with  others. 

"  You  will  think,  dear  uncle,"  he  writes,  "  that  I 
agree  well  with  my  companion,  when  I  can  praise  him 
so  highly  ;  but  it  is  not  so.  Rabenhorst  by  no  means 
possesses  all  tlie  virtues  that  go  to  make  a  good  com- 


24  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

panion  ;  he  is  very  proud,  and  most  obstinate  in  main- 
taining his  opinion ;  impetuous,  and,  withal,  so  sus- 
ceptible and  suspicious,  that  I  often  provoke  him  ten 
times  in  an  hour  without  knowing  why.  Many  a  time 
I  have  to  give  up  my  own  opinion,  though  fully  per- 
suaded that  it  is  right ;  and  when  I  have  done  so,  and 
am  thinking  that  our  difference  is  made  up,  he  will  ex- 
claim, '  How  can  you  say  yes  to  everything  ? — you 
fancy  that  I  am  deceived  by  your  assent,  but  you  are 
much  mistaken.'  I  know,  dear  uncle,  that  you  will 
regard  this  as  very  useful  training,  and  you  are  right ; 
for,  from  having  been  brought  up  alone,  I  used  to  be  a 
most  insufferable  fellow  in  the  society  of  young  people, 
but  I  have  now  learned  how  to  behave  to  others,  and 
every  one  is  surprised  to  find  that  I  get  on  so  well 
with  Rabenhorst ;  he  has,  indeed,  an  unfortunate  tem- 
perament, but  he  loves  me,  and  that  is  enough." 

In  the  summer  of  1789,  Rabenhorst  left  Leipzig  to 
enter  a  bookseller's  house  at  Berlin,  and  from  hence- 
forward Perthes  stood  quite  alone. 


III. 

N  the  first  year  after  Rabenhorst's  departure, 
Perthes  had  worked  diligently,  and  acquired 
the  confidence  of  his  master  to  such  an  extent, 
as  to  be  left  by  him  in  charge  of  the  business 
during  an  absence  of  some  weeks.  He  man- 
aged things  so  admirably,  that,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  services,  he  received  a  pair  of  silken 
garters.  But  Perthes  now  began  to  crave  more  leis- 
ure than  business  allowed,  for  the  purposes  of  educa- 
tion. *'My  principal,  indeed,  teaches  me  all  that  is 
necessary  for  one  who  is  to  continue  a  servant,  but 
very  little  suffices  for  that ;  a  special  knowledge  of  the 
trade  I  certainly  do  not  learn  from  him,  for  he  con- 
ducts his  business  in  the  most  mechanical  manner — he 
does  everything  in  the  way  that  first  occurs  to  him, 
without  being  guided  by  any  principle ;  if  a  question 
is  asked,  he  replies,  '  We  will  do  it  in  this  way,'  but 
can  never  give  a  reason  why  it  is  done  so,  and  not 
otherwise,  for  if  the  same  thing  occur  again,  he  will 
do  it  in  some  other  way.  All  the  MSS.  that  he  re- 
ceives are  submitted  to  the  old  antiquary,  and  then 
whether  they  treat  of  the  three  bread-earning  studies— 
2  (25) 


26  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic — or  of  mathematics, 
philology,  psedagogy,  farriery,  or  polite  literature,  if 
the  oracle  declares  'it  will  do,'  the  thing  is  settled, 
and  if  it  were  by  Geiker,  junior,  it  would  be  taken  ; 
does  he  say,  '  it  will  not  do,'  it  is  as  certainly  rejected. 
The  antiquary  is  sagacious,  no  doubt,  but  it  does  not 
follow  that  he  has  travelled  through  all  the  realms  of 
learning." 

That  satisfaction  which  he  did  not  immediately  find 
in  his  calling,  Perthes  sought  in  pursuits  of  his  own. 
From  1790,  when  he  attained  his  eighteenth  year,  he 
had  been  possessed  by  an  evident  desire  for  literary 
employment,  but  time  and  money  were  alike  wanting. 
The  entrance  of  a  junior  apprentice  had,  indeed,  re- 
lieved him  from  the  wear  and  tear  of  running  the 
streets,  and  in  winter  he  could  now  spare  himself; 
still  the  only  hours  that  he  could  call  his  own,  were 
those  before  seven  in  the  morning  and  after  nine  at  night. 
He  would,  however,  have  taken  lessons  in  languages  at 
these  seasons,  had  not  his  extreme  poverty  put  it  quite 
out  of  the  question.  The  widow's  pension  of  one-and- 
twenty  florins,  which  his  mother  had  with  generous 
self-sacrifice  given  up  to  him,  scarcely  sufficed  to  pro- 
vide him  with  shoes ;  his  uncle  contributed  his  half- 
worn  clothes,  but  except  in  a  case  of  extreme  necessity, 
could  do  no  more.  His  linen  was  taken  by  a  carrier 
every  fortnight  to  Rudolfstadt,  where  his  aunt  super- 
intended the  washing  and  mending.  At  Christmas 
his  master  always  made  him  a  present  of  two  dollars, 
as  pocket-money  for  the  year.  An  extraordinary 
piece  of  good  fortune  would  now  and  then  come  in  the 
shape  of  a  present,  from  his  uncle  at  Gotha. 

"  If  you  could  see  me  now,  my  dear  uncle,  you  would 


STUDIES   AND   FRIENDS.  27 

not  know  me,"  he  writes  in  the  summer  of  1789,  "  for 
I  am  much  taller,  and  through  my  uncle's  kindness, 
very  well  dressed  in  a  green  coat  with  a  short  waist, 
and  buttons  behind,  after  the  English  fashion,  trow- 
sers  of  new  English  nankin,  and  a  white  waistcoat. 
What  would  you  have  more?  But  I  must  have  a 
great-coat  at  Michaelmas,  and  then  the  old  dollars 
must  spin.  Hurrah!  I  have  the  two  still,  but  I  shall 
look  my  last  at  them  then." 

Such  a  state  of  things  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
remunerate  a  teacher,  and  though  Perthes  frequently 
tried,  grammar  in  hand,  to  gain  some  knowledge  of 
French  or  English,  after  nine  o'clock  at  night,  he  could 
make  nothing  of  it,  and  invariably  fell  asleep.  His 
inclination  and  talents  would  have  led  him  to  the  study 
of  history  and  geography,  but  the  prevailing  fashion 
required  of  every  young  man  who  would  enjoy  any  re- 
spect for  his  abilities,  that  he  should  be  a  philosopher 
as  it  was  called,  and  Perthes  could  not  resist  the  man- 
date. 

"  Dearest,  best  uncle,"  he  wrote  towards  the  end  of 
the  year  1791,  "  it  is  certainly  true  that  he  who  strives 
after  improvement,  is  thereby  capable  of  exalted  en- 
joyment ;  and  I  have  myself  often  had  such  bright 
hours  when,  by  meditation  on  the  perfections  of  God 
and  his  works,  and  by  the  consciousness  of  my  own 
dignity  as  a  human  being,  I  enjoyed  a  foretaste  of  the 
destiny  ultimately  in  store  for  me.  At  such  seasons, 
all,  all  was  joy,  and  I  saw  everything  around  me  labor- 
ing onward  to  perfection — then  all  men  were  my  broth- 
ers advancing  with  me  to  the  same  goal." 

At  other  times  the  youth  had  to  confess  tha't  he  often 
deviated  both  to  the  right  and  to  the  left  of  the  path 


28  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

which  he  saw  to  be  the  true  one.  "  You  say,"  he 
writes  in  a  letter  to  his  uncle  at  Schwartzburg,  "  that 
you  are  delighted  with  the  principles  expressed  in  my 
letters ;  and  encourage  me  to  cleave  to  them,  and 
practise  them  in  my  life.  I  do  indeed  cleave  to  them, 
dear  uncle,  for  they  are  not  a  mere  result  of  reasoning : 
Oh  no !  they  are  so  interwoven  with  my  whole  being 
that  I  have  no  power  to  think  of  myself  without  them, 
but  allowing  them  to  actuate  my  life  is  quite  another 
matter.  I  should  be  a  hypocrite  if  I  were  to  tell  you 
that  they  had  been  the  never-failing  guide  of  my  con- 
duct. Now  passion  triumphs,  now  habit,  again  a  con- 
stitutional levity  which  is  quite  at  variance  with  the 
results  of  my  reflection ;  and  then  I  have  to  pay  for  the 
errors  which  reason  has  made  in  deluding  me  by  the 
exhibition  of  a  perfection  which  seemed  within  my 
grasp,  but  which,  I  find,  cannot  be  reached  by  a  bound, 
but  must  be  slowly  and  painfully  worked  out.  The 
attempt  to  make  such  a  leap  always  insures  a  heavy 
fall." 

There  were  seasons  when  the  youth  had  so  absolutely 
lost  courage,  as  to  give  up  all  hope  of  fulfilling  what 
he  conceived  to  be  the  destiny  of  man.  '*!  must  in- 
deed struggle  hard,  if  I  am  to  expel  from  my  heart  all 
that  disturbs  my  peace  ;  for,  alas!  when  I  feel  tranquil, 
it  is  but  the  sleep  of  evil  inclinations  which  are  gather- 
ing strength  for  a  more  violent  outburst  when  oppor- 
tunity offers.  Ah  !  my  want  of  firmness  and  my  hot 
blood  often  destroy  in  one  hour  what  it  has  been  the 
labor  of  weeks  to  build  up,  and  then  I  am  the  victim 
of  a  remorse  which  is  not  soon  succeeded  by  the  unre- 
proaching  self-possession  of  a  heart  at  peace  with  itself. 
How  often  have  I,  with  tears,  deplored  my  perverse- 


STUDIES   AND   FRIENDS.  29 

iiess,  when,  after  some  stedfast  resolution  to  cling  to 
the  good,  I  have  fallen,  because  too  weak  to  overcome 
some  passion  !  At  such  times  every  one  seems  better 
than  myself,  even  those  wlio  have  openly  transgressed, 
while  I  liave  erred  only  in  thought ;  for  I  say  to  my- 
self,— had  others  the  same  impulses  to  good  as  thou 
hast,  they  would  assuredly  have  been  better." 

Then,  again,  came  seasons  in  which  the  young  man 
was  inclined  to  look  complacently  on  these  self-con- 
demnations. "  You  see,  dear  uncle,''  he  writes,  "  that 
I  have  made  a  good  beginning,  for  the  being  dissatis- 
fied with  myself  is  a  sure  proof  of  this." 

The  activity  of  Perthes  both  in  his  business  and  his 
personal  pursuits,  as  well  as  in  the  political  and  gene- 
ral movements  of  the  age,  by  which  he  was  profoundly 
attracted,  had  developed  his  understanding,  made  him 
acquainted  with  life  in  its  varied  relations,  and  given 
him  an  intelligent  interest  in  all  the  events  of  the  pe- 
riod ;  but  this  very  culture  had  at  the  same  time  made 
him  conscious  of  a  void  in  his  spiritual  life,  which  caused 
him  many  hours  of  sorrow. 

Frank,  open,  and  truthful,  he  keenly  felt  the  want 
of  some  one  to  whom  he  might  pour  out  his  whole 
heart  in  the  unreserved  freedom  of  mutual  intercourse, 
and  be  met  by  a  frankness  and  attachment  equal  to  his 
own.  The  natural  devotedness  of  a  child  to  father 
and  mother,  had  been  denied  him  ;  for  his  interviews 
with  his  motlier  had  been  too  few  and  short  to  exer- 
cise any  influence  in  the  formation  of  his  character. 
To  the  uncle  and  aunt  who  had  supplied  to  him  the 
place  of  parents,  Perthes  turned  with  ardent  affection, 
and  never  allowed  an  opportunity  to  pass  of  express- 
ing the  gratitude  which  he  felt  towards  them.    He 


30  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

opened  his  heart  to  his  uncle  unreservedly  ;  to  him  he 
imparted  the  struggles  of  youth,  the  grief  which  his 
weakness  occasioned,  his  honest  joy  at  having  been  at 
least  enabled  to  prevent  evil  thoughts  from  running 
into  evil  deeds, — all  was  communicated  to  this  his  fa- 
therly friend.  Still  he  yearned  for  the  daily  inter- 
change of  thoughts  with  some  companion  about  his 
own  age,  whose  sympathies  would  be  in  unison  with 
his  own. 

"  The  most  earnest  wish  of  my  heart,"  he  writes,  "is 
for  a  friend  to  whom  I  might  freely  unbosom  myself, 
who  would  strengthen  me  when  I  am  weak,  and  en- 
courage me  when  I  begin  to  despair;  but,  alas!  I  find 
no  such  friend,  and  yet  1  feel  an  irresistible  necessity 
to  unburden  my  heart ;  and  so  overpowering  is  this 
longing,  that  I  could  press  every  man  to  my  breast  and 
say.  Thou,  too,  art  God's  image."  While  thus  deplor- 
ing the  want  of  a  friend  as  one  of  the  misfortunes  of 
his  life,  he  had  been  powerfully  attracted  by  the  kindly, 
though  childish  advances  of  his  master's  second  daugh- 
ter, who,  by  the  force  of  a  benevolent  nature,  had  won 
the  affection  of  the  friendless  boy  from  the  first  day 
of  his  residence  under  the  same  roof  with  her. 

Frederika,  then  twelve  years  of  age,  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  his  faithful  nurse  during  the  illness  of  his  first 
winter,  and  continued  to  be  his  playfellow  and  com- 
forter in  subsequent  years.  She  provided  for  all  his 
wants,  giving  him  food,  fuel,  and  light,  and  never  fail- 
ed to  cheer  him  with  her  sprightliness.  She  had  often 
much  to  endure  from  the  disorders  of  the  house,  and 
when  she  or  Perthes  suffered  from  the  unhappy  rela- 
tions which  prevailed,  they  found  comfort  in  each 
other's  sympathies. 


STUDIES   AND    FRIENDS.  8i 

"  We  were  sensible  children."  writes  Perthes  subse- 
quently ;  "  we  comforted  each  other,  read  together, 
and  talked  over  all  our  troubles.'' 

Together  they  grew  out  of  childhood  :  the  boy  be- 
came silent  and  embarrassed,  the  girl  shy  and  reserved. 
About  this  time  a  second  apprentice,  Nessig  by  name, 
came  into  the  house  ;  a  smart,  good-natured  lad,  with 
a  wonderful  gift  for  entertaining  himself  and  others 
with  light  and  lively  talk.  This  was  unbearable  to 
Perthes  when  addressed  to  Frederika.  He  had  been 
able  to  hold  earnest  discourse  with  her  only  touching 
the  dignity  of  man  and  the  perfectibility  of  the  human 
race,  of  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  neighbor,  and  such 
high  topics,  and  when  these  were  inappropriate,  Per- 
thes had  nothing  to  say.  "  On  this  account,"  he  writes 
to  his  uncle,  "  Nessig  is  more  regarded  than  I  am  ; 
people  talk  with  him,  while  they  leave  me  standing 
and  treat  me  almost  contemptuously."  Perthes  felt 
irritated  by  the  neglect,  and  soon  became  the  victim  of 
jealousy.  He  first  became  conscious  of  this  by  the  ill- 
will  that  he  felt  towards  the  favored  Nessig.  This  ill- 
will  he  determined  to  overcome  ;  he  opened  his  whole 
heart  to  the  favorite,  and  promised  to  conceal  nothing 
from  him.  A  warm  friendship  between  the  youths, 
founded  on  their  common  feeling  towards  the  beloved 
maiden,  was  the  result  ;  and  this  afterwards  exposed 
Perthes  to  much  ill-natured  raillery,  and  eventually  to 
many  vexations. 

His  former  playfellow  had  grown  into  a  very  hand- 
some girl  of  sixteen,  and  tlie  admirers  of  the  elder 
sister,  who  had  hitherto  been  regarded  as  the  helle  of 
Leipzig,  were  now  dazzled  and  tempted  from  their  al- 
legiance by  the  spriglitliness  and  superior  intelligence 


32  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

of  the  dark-haired  Frederika.  Lovers  without  number 
soon  gathered  round  her,  and  yet  she  could  not  do 
without  the  shy  and  anxious  apprentice  at  the  other 
side  of  the  room,  who  numbered  only  nineteen  years, 
and  who  never  expressed  his  feelings  to  her  except  by 
the  involuntary  attention  that  he  bestowed  on  every- 
thing she  did  and  said. 

"  She  is  still,"  he  writes,  "  most  kind  to  me  ;  she 
knows  how,  by  a  few  words,  to  cheer  me  when  I  am 
troubled  and  depressed,  and  she  speaks  to  me  of  her 
position  in  her  father's  house,  as  she  does  to  no  other. 
Ah !  my  dear  good  uncle,  how  sincerely  I  thank  God 
that  my  former  struggle  with  evil  thoughts,  which 
surely  came  without  any  intention  on  my  part,  is  over  I 
What  the  most  serious  reflections  on  the  greatness  and 
perfectibility  of  man  could  never  accomplish,  has  been 
effected  by  the  influence  of  a  pure  and  innocent  love. 
God  will  still  protect  me ;  may  He  also  protect  you 
and  your  wife  and  children,  and  what  is  my  most 
earnest  prayer,  may  He  make  Frederika  happy. — 
Good-night." 

The  next  letter  from  his  uncle,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  brought  the  inquiry,  "  What  next?" 

"  Assuredly  she  is  not  in  love  with  me,"  was  the 
reply  ;  "  she  has  the  choice  of  so  many  highly-educated 
men,  that  I,  with  my  youthful  twenty-year  face,  cut  but 
a  sorry  figure  among  them,  to  say  nothing  of  the  ad- 
vantages of  dress  and  social  position  which  they  pos- 
sess. It  is  true  tliat  the  last-mentioned  have  no  great 
value  in  Frederika's  eyes  ;  but  a  young  man  is  at  this 
very  moment  paying  attentions  to  her,  whose  acquire- 
ments I  respect  so  highly,  that  I  should  be  the  vainest 
of  living  men  were  I  for  an  instant  to  put  myself  in 


STUDIES   AND   FRIENDS.  33 

competition  with  him.  Yet  one  word,  dear  uncle : 
even  if  she  loved  me,  and  I  were  able  to  maintain  her, 
I  could  never  make  her  my  wife  ;  for  nothing  on  earth 
would  induce  me  to  commit  myself  irrevocably  with 
Bohme's  family,  nor  would  I  marry  one  who  has  first 
known  me  in  the  humble  position  which  I  occupy  here. 
My  heart  is  ready  to  break  while  I  write  thus,  yet  be 
not' anxious  on  my  account,  dear  uncle,  I  never  felt  so 
confident  of  my  steady  adherence  to  the  right  as  I  do 
now." 

At  this  time  Perthes  would  sit  up  half  the  night, 
seeking  to  allay  the  storm  in  his  bosom,  by  the  arduous 
study  of  treatises  upon  Kant's  Philosophy  and  Cicero 
Be  Officiis.  A  better  help  than  any  which  these  weari- 
some studies  could  afford,  and  one  of  which  he,  up  to 
that  time,  had  had  no  experience,  was  at  hand,  in  the 
society  of  young  men  of  great  mental  activity  and 
high  moral  character.  Accident  had  given  rise  to  an 
intimacy  with  seven  young  Swabians,  considerably 
older  than  himself,  who  formed  an  affection  for  him, 
and  drew  him  into  their  circle.  The  names  of  four 
principal  members  of  this  circle  were  Schroder,  Dut- 
tenhover,  Trefftz,  and  Meier.  They  were  men  of  talent 
and  good  education,  of  pleasant  humor,  and  consider- 
able poetical  enthusiasm.  Perthes  soon  devoted  all 
his  leisure  hours  to  them.  Through  them  he  became 
acquainted  with  Herder,  Schiller,  and  Goethe  ;  and, 
moreover,  had  his  first  genuine  experiences  of  the  joy- 
ous life  of  youth. 

"  Never,  since  I  came  here,"  he  writes,  "  have  I  en- 
joyed such  pleasant  heart-quickening  hours  as  now,  in 
the  society  of  my  beloved  new  friends.  They  are  all 
Swabians,  and  closely  united,  and  cultivate  no  society 

9* 


34  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

beyond  their  own  limited  circle  ;   but  the  moment  I 
enter,  I  read  my  welcome  in  their  eyes." 

"  I  am  one  of  the  happiest  of  men,"  he  tells  his 
Schwartzburg  uncle.  "  The  friendship,  and  regard, 
and  affection  of  good  men  accompany  me  at  every 
step,  and  an  annoyance  of  a  particular  kind  that 
oppressed  me,  has  now  disappeared.  The  annoyance 
I  refer  to  was  this  :  when  I  saw  other  young  men  of 
my  own  age  setting  about  everything  with  a  sort  of 
sprightliness  that  I  could  never  command,  I  was 
grieved  at  heart,  because  I  was  convinced  that  nothing 
great  or  noble  could  be  accomplished  without  ardor 
and  vivacity.  My  weak  spirits  vexed  me,  and  I  even 
went  so  far  as  to  blame  all  that  was  good  in  me, 
ascribing  my  good  tendencies  merely  to  the  coldness 
of  my  temperament,  which  I  consequently  mortally 
hated.  And  now,  dear  uncle,  all  this  is  changed ! — 
yes,  I  feel  that  there  is  entliusiasm  in  me  ;  but  when 
this  enthusiasm,  which  is  now  satisfied  with  lower  ob- 
jects, shall  have  religion,  perfection,  and  virtue  for 
its  inspiration,  then  the  last  vestige  of  selfishness  will 
disappear,  and  I  shall  love  all, — all  as  my  brethren." 

The  circumstances  in  which  Perthes  had  grown  up 
to  youth,  had,  indeed,  been  narrow  and  limited,  but  his 
mind  had  been  formed  and  strengthened  by  much  valua- 
ble experience.  "  When  I  think  of  the  years  I  have 
passed  here,"  he  writes  in  1793,  "  when  I  carry  myself 
back  within  the  circle  of  ideas  that  I  brought  with  me 
to  this  place,  I  am  astonished  at  the  transformation  I 
have  undergone.  I  shall  ever  look  back  upon  Leipzig 
with  affection  and  blessings  ;  for  here  my  mind  began 
to  develop  and  to  apprehend  the  greatness  of  human- 
ity. I  have  had  seasons  of  trial,  but  they  have  brought 


STUDIES   AND   FRIENDS.  35 

forth  much  good.  I  came  here  a  light-minded  youth, 
with  many  failings  ]  I  have  still  many,  but  many  too 
are  corrected.  For  all  the  good  I  have  enjoyed  I 
thank  God,  who  placed  so  many  inducements  to  good 
in  my  way,  in  order  that  my  levity  might  not  get  the 
upper  hand."  It  was  not  without  a  feeling  of  pride 
that,  as  the  term  of  his  apprenticeship  drew  near,  he 
contemplated  his  actual  position.  "  It  gives  me  pleas- 
ure," he  writes,  "  to  say  to  myself,  Thou  hadst  no 
father,  no  means,  and  yet  thou  hast  been  a  burden  to 
no  one,  and  in  a  few  weeks  wilt  be  independent  of  all 
but  thyself!"  According  to  agreement  the  term  ex- 
pired at  Michaelmas,  1793  ;  but  Bohme's  friend,  Hoff- 
mann the  Hamburgh  bookseller,  who  had  carefully  ob- 
served Perthes  and  admired  his  business  qualities, 
requested  his  master  to  set  him  free  before  the  close  of 
his  term,  as  he  wished  to  engage  him  as  an  assistant  in 
the  Easter  of  the  same  year.  Bohme  consented  ;  at  a 
grand  entertainment  he  came  up  to  Perthes,  told  him 
to  rise,  gave  him  a  gentle  slap  on  the  face,  presented 
him  with  a  sword,  addressed  him  as  ">&*e,"  (they,^)  and 
the  apprenticeship  to  the  book-trade  was  at  end,  but 
not  the  apprenticeship  to  life. 

*  The  Germans  use  the  third  person  plural  instead  of  the  second, 
vhen  addressing  others— "they,"  instead  of  you.  Children  and  ser- 
yants  are  addressed  by  the  second  person  singular — "  thou." 


IV 


^N  the  13th  of  May,  1793,  Perthes  took  leave 
of  the  city  in  which  he  had  spent  six  years — 
"  happy  years  of  earnest  striving,"  as  he 
called  them  himself ;  he  had  now  left  behind 
behind  him  extreme  poverty  and  abject  de- 
pendence. He  exchanged  his  cold  little  cham- 
ber in  the  roof  for  the  comfortable  travelling 
carriage  of  his  new  master,  and  the  roughness  of  hon- 
est Bohme  for  the  cultivated  society  of  his  travelling 
companion  Hoffmann,  a  man  of  education,  and  one 
who  also  possessed  considerable  knowledge  of  the 
world.  The  country  was  in  tlie  first  bloom  of  spring, 
and  a  bright  moonlight  night  induced  meditation  on 
the  past  and  the  future.  At  Hochweisig,  the  first 
stage,  the  travellers  fell  in  with  Hoffmann's  friend^ 
Campe  of  Brunswick,  his  wife,  daughter,  and  nephews. 
Campe  was  a  member  of  the  Council  of  Education* 
and  enjoyed  a  wide-spread  reputation  as  a  man  of 
talent  and  a  distinguished  author,  and  was  on  intimate 
terms  with  the  most  noted  men  of  the  period. 

By  Helmstadt  and  Uelzen,  Hoffmann  and  he  now 
journeyed  to  Hamburgh.     "The  next  morning  at  five 

(36) 


FIRST   IMPRESSIONS   OF    HA.MBURGH.  37 

o^clock,"  he  writes  to  his  uncle,  "  we  reached  the  Elbe, 
and  had  to  be  ferried  over  in  a  large  boat  to  Zollens- 
picker,  the  first  point  in  the  Hamburgh  territory  ;  this 
gave  me  great  pleasure,  as  it  was  all  new  to  me.  From 
Zollenspicker  to  Hamburgh  is  eighteen  miles,  but  the 
constant  variety  in  the  scenery  made  it  seem  hardly  a 
league.  The  whole  tract  is  one  continuous  village,  a 
village  cradled  by  the  Elbe,  surrounded  by  garden 
grounds,  and  houses  such  as  one  does  not  often  see  in 
cities  —  all  kept  with  the  greatest  neatness,  finely 
painted,  and  fitted  up  with  Bohemian  plate-glass  win- 
dows. It  is  a  fine  sight !  And  just  think,  there  are 
peasants  who  give  to  their  daughters  portions  of  ten 
and  even  twenty  thousand  dollars.  It  was  at  ten 
o'clock  at  night,  on  the  17th  of  May,  the  day  before 
Whit-sunday,  that  we  entered  Hamburgh.  I  was  aston- 
ished at  the  crowds  of  people,  far  greater  than  in 
Leipzig,  even  during  the  most  thronged  days  of  the 
Fair.  Everything  is  grand  and  beautiful,  surpassing 
all  I  have  yet  seen." 

He  was  favorably  impressed  by  the  polite  manners 
and  kind-heartedness,  the  open  candor  and  regular 
habits  of  the  Hofi'mann  family.  "  Madame  Hoffmann," 
he  writes,  "  is  a  woman  of  superior  intelligence.  She 
is  admirable  as  a  wife  and  mother.  But  I  find  I  must 
take  heed  to  my  manners,  for  you  cannot  think  how 
particular  she  is,  and  what  a  way  she  has  of  managing 
us.  The  daughter  is  handsome,  very  handsome,  and 
very  good,  too,  but  one  is  somehow  compelled  to  keep 
at  a  distance  from  her." 

Hoffmann  was  a  good  man  of  business,  and,  both  as  a 
man  and  a  bookseller,  thoroughly  well-informed.  He 
liked  the  luxurious,  hospitable  style  of  Hamburgh  life. 


38  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

The  contrast  between  the  dry  tranquillity  of  his  man- 
ner and  the  excitable  vivacity  of  his  wife,  in  nowise 
disturbed  the  harmony  of  the  family.  "  Were  you  to 
see  this  respectable  couple,"  writes  Perthes,  "  you  could 
not  refrain  from  laughing  ;  for  she  is  like  quicksilver, 
and  would  know  everything,  while  he,  as  you  know,  is 
rather  phlegmatic.  Though  fond  enough  of  talking, 
he  has  a  great  dislike  to  answering  questions.  She  has 
consequently  to  keep  up  an  incessant  fire  of  interroga- 
tories, as,  *  I  say  ? — Do  you  hear  ? — Hoffmann  ? — Tell 
me? — Don't  you  hear  ? — Answer  me ?' — and  not  unfre- 
quently  she  pours  out  all  these  in  rapid  succession  be- 
fore she  can  extract  a  reply.  At  last  he  rejoins  with, 
^  I  have  told  you  already,'  and  yet  no  one  has  heard  a 
word.  If  she  is  too  hard  upon  him,  he  growls  a  little  ; 
it  is  of  no  use,  he  must  do  as  she  bids." 

The  business  in  which  Perthes  was  now,  under  Hoff- 
man's direction,  to  work,  was  one  that  called  forth  all 
his  powers.  Half  a  year  after  his  entrance  on  it,  he 
thus  writes :  "  I  was  ignorant  of  many  things,  as  is 
mostly  the  case  with  apprentices  who  have  served  their 
time  ;  but  I  have  hit  upon  a  situation  particularly 
favorable  for  extending  my  information,  for  I  have 
work  to  do  here  which  is  unusual  even  for  an  experi- 
enced hand.  That  this  keeps  my  brain  in  excitement 
you  may  well  believe  ;  happily,  being  left  to  myself,  I 
can  work  as  I  like,  and  this  is  the  only  way  in  which 
I  can  get  through  much.  Reflection  has  always  been 
my  best  teacher,  and  just  for  this  reason  I  find  it  very 
difficult  to  comprehend  and  to  imitate  any  one  who 
sets  liimself  to  show  me  tlie  way  to  do  anything." 

Perthes  did  not  find  many  leisure  hours  in  his  new 
employment:  "We  never  close,"  he  writes,  "till  nine 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS   OP   HAMBURGH.  39 

o'clock  at  night,  and  once  in  the  week  we  have  to  sit 
up  half  through  the  night.  This  is  in  ordinary  sea- 
sons, but  at  the  approach  of  a  fair  the  work  can  scarcely 
be  overtaken."  Perthes  had  already  learned  in  Leip- 
zig to  take  advantage  of  the  few  hours  which  the  un- 
interrupted routine  of  business  life  left  at  his  disposal 
for  mental  cultivation  and  for  recreation,  and  in  Ham- 
burgh, too,  he  found  time  to  accomplish  much. 

He  had  been  deeply  interested  with  Herder's  "  Let- 
ters on  Humanity,"  and  Jacobi's  "  Waldemar."  Schil- 
ler's "  Essay  on  Grace  and  Dignity  "  had  charmed  and 
captivated  him.  "  It  is  singular,"  he  writes,  "  that 
works  of  this  kind  make  the  most  profound  impression 
on  me,  while  special  treatises  on  morality,  and  grave 
exhortations,  however  excellent,  fail  to  interest,  and  even 
many  leave  me  restless  and  unhappy.  These  suggest 
things  which  rouse  all  sorts  of  doubts  and  questionings 
in  my  mind,  but  a  treatise,  which,  like  that  of  Schiller's, 
is  so  convincing  and  exhaustive,  and  gives  birth  to  so 
many  new  thoughts,  has  power  to  move  me  deeply. 

On  the  holidays,  the  fine  environs  of  Hamburgh 
afforded  him  recreation  and  numerous  sources  of 
pleasure.  "  He  must  be  dead  to  the  beauties  of 
nature,"  he  writes,  "  who  could  be  unhappy  here.  You 
can  imagine  nothing  finer  or  grander  than  the  neigh- 
boring country.  Every  turn  of  the  Elbe  below  Al- 
tona  is  unique  of  its  kind,  and  reflects  in  its  peculiar 
beauty  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  the  Creator." 
Acquaintances  he  had  readily  found,  and  was  no  longer, 
as  he  had  been  in  Leipzig  even  during  leisure  hours, 
dependent  on  the  will  of  a  master  :  he  was  quite  dis- 
posed to  avail  himself  of  the  many  pleasures  which 
were  to  be  enjoyed  in  a  great  city. 


40  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

But  amid  all  the  shifting  scenes  and  impressions 
that  the  change  of  life  brought  with  it,  Frederika's 
image  was  still  present  with  him.  When  Perthes  left 
Leipzig,  they  had  promised  that  they  would  not  forget 
the  days  of  childhood,  and  that  they  would  correspond 
^^occasionally.  He  was  deeply  affected  at  hearing  that, 
on  the  day  he  took  his  departure,  she  had  sat  for  hours 
at  the  window  weeping.  In  his  first  letter  to  his 
Leipzig  friends,  he  says,  "  I  still  live  wholly  in  the 
past,  and  am  now  first  aware  how  fondly  I  love  Fred- 
erika  ;  she  is  ever  the  centre  round  which  all  my 
thoughts  turn."  True  to  the  obligations  he  had  taken 
on  himself,  to  keep  back  nothing  bearing  on  his  rela- 
tions with  Frederika  from  his  friend  Nessig,  he  sent 
to  him  their  whole  correspondence.  A  strange  inti- 
macy thus  grew  up  between  the  rivals,  grounded  solely 
on  their  common  affection  for  the  girl.  "  You  may- 
have  secrets  from  me,"  writes  Perthes,  but  "  nothing, 
nothing  may  you  conceal  of  your  feelings  and  thoughts 
regarding  me.  Here  the  least  reserve  would  be  the 
grave  of  friendship.  Keep  back  neither  doubt  nor 
reproach  ;  write  all,  even  though  it  should  cost  me 
many  a  bitter  tear." 

Perthes  was  able  to  comment  to  his  friend  with 
calmness,  nay,  even  with  some  severity,  on  whatever 
seemed  wrong  in  Frederika,  but  he  found  excuses  for 
all  in  the  trying  circumstances  of  her  home.  **  Men 
may  indeed  blame  her,  but  God  condemns  no  one  for 
single  and  isolated  failings.  He  has  appointed  a  stern 
discipline  for  the  poor,  dear,  noble  girl,  and  hereafter 
she  will  reap  the  reward.  If  I  knew  any  way  to  make 
her  happy,"  he  writes  again,  "  I  would  joyfully  do  so  at 
any  cost.    I  have  been  long  thinking  how  I  can  write 


FIRST   IMPRESSIONS   OF   HAMBURGH.  41 

to  her  an  affectionate  letter  of  advice  ;  but  though 
you  may  let  a  girl  feel  that  you  think  her  wrong,  and 
although  she  is  quite  conscious  of  it,  yet  you  must  not 
venture  to  say  it,  or  you  will  at  once  be  made  aw^are 
of  the  power  which  in  such  a  case  a  woman  always 
has  over  a  man." 

"  Be  her  friend,  her  guide  and  counsellor,"  he  writes 
to  Nessig,  "  but  guard  against  yourself,  and  do  not 
harbor  a  feeling  of  security  which  is  only  imaginary. 
Your  last  letter  betrayed  the  height  of  passion,  and 
shows  that  you  are  given  up  to  its  intoxication.  It 
were  folly  to  strive  to  tear  it  from  your  heart,  even  if 
you  could.  No  ;  keep  this  love-sickness,  be  still  an 
enthusiast,  only  forget  not  virtue  and  religion.'^ 

The  calm  judgment  and  self-forgetting  anxiety  which 
Perthes  at  one  time  exhibited,  were  at  another  over- 
powered by  an  outburst  of  passion  :  "  You  are  still 
living,"  he  writes,  "  under  the  eyes  of  my  Frederika  I 
— My  Frederika  ?  Yes,  so  I  call  lier,  for  come  what 
may,  a  part  of  her  soul  is  mine,  and  will  be  mine  for 
ever." 

In  another  letter  he  says,  "  Frederika  begins  every- 
thing with  me,  Frederika  is  with  me  while  I  am  occu- 
pied with  it,  Frederika  ends  it  with  me — in  a  word, 
Frederika  is  in  my  heart  by  night  and  by  day.  Ah  ! 
my  suffering  is  sometimes  great,  and  it  is  truly  terrible 
to  have  to  will  to  subdue  such  a  passion  as  mine,  and 
yet  I  must  and  will  subdue  it." 

Perthes  had  the  firm  conviction  that  the  maiden 
loved  his  friend  better  than  himself.  "  I  would  fain 
not  confess  it,"  he  writes,  "  but  I  have  long  been  aware 
of  Frederika's  preference  for  you — a  preference  ground- 
ed on  your  noble  character,  which  is  much  stronger 


42  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

than  mine.  Believe  me,  brother,  it  often  cost  me  a 
struggle,  yes,  a  terrible  struggle,  not  to  be  unjust  to  you, 
and  not  to  make  you  smart  for  the  preference  you  en- 
joyed. Once  I  was  on  the  point  of  becoming  your  en- 
emy, but  I  overcame,  and  now  I  am  calm,  though  I 
must  still  weep.  Write  and  tell  me  what  is  to  be  the 
issue  of  your  love,  and  I  will  do  all  I  can  for  you." 

In  such  a  mood  Perthes  would  seek  for  solitude, 
where  he  might  give  himself  up  undisturbed  to  melan- 
choly thoughts.  "  I  have  just  returned,''  he  writes, 
"  from  a  solitary  walk,  which  has  done  me  much  good  ; 
I  was  penetrated  by  the  glory  of  Nature  ;  certainly  I 
was  never  better  in  soul  than  now.  Dearest  brotlier, 
be  it  what  it  may  that  now  inspires  me — God — Nature 
— Heart — do  not  grudge  it  me,  but  rather  rejoice  with 
me.  In  the  twilight  of  memory,  visions  rise  before  me, 
and  the  misty  figures  of  the  distant  loved  ones  hover 
around  me." 

'*  Imagination  !"  he  says  in  another  letter,  "  Imag- 
ination I  no  dependence  is  to  be  placed  on  thy  vota- 
ries, says  Campe  ;  and  yet,  though  thou  hast  caused 
me  many  sorrows,  I  would  not  be  without  thee.  Im- 
agination gave  me  blessedness — gave  me  love  and  mel- 
ancholy. Oh,  the  melancholy  which  is  the  offspring  of 
imagination,  is  the  sweetest  thing  that  I  know  !  My 
brother,  to  lie  in  the  stillness  of  nature,  not  knowing 
what  one  feels  or  thinks,  and  yet  to  know  it  so  well ! 
In  such  moments  every  blade  of  grass,  every  leaf  is 
my  friend — while  as  fancy  prompts  I  can  extract  from 
each,  food  for  my  imagination,  and  would  fain  shed 
tears  of  sweetest  sadness  ;  there  and  then  is  it  revealed 
to  man  that  God  is  the  soul  of  all." ' 

Grateful  as  Perthes  was  for  the  happiness  of  his  Ham- 


FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF    HAMBURGH.  43 

burgh  life,  it  was  not  lon^  till  he  felt  its  insufficiency 
to  satisfy  him.  "  You  cannot  imagine,  dear  Campe,'^ 
he  writes,  "  what  it  is  to  be  confined  exclusively  to  the 
company  of  the  young,  and  to  be  quite  sliut  out  from 
that  of  older  men,  and  from  all  family  gatherings,  ex- 
cept on  some  rare  festive  occasions.  Among  the 
young  men,  however  extended  the  circle  of  acquaint-, 
auce,  an  unbearable  sameness  prevails,  and  the  whole 
conversation  turns  upon  trifles.  There  can  be  nothing 
more  perilous  than  constant  intercourse  with  common- 
place men  ;  even  if  the  cliaracter  do  not  sustain  direct 
injury,  a  dry,  dull,  reserved  condition  of  mind  is  in- 
duced, more  or  less  inimical  to  freedom.  When  I  first 
came  here  I  was  foolish  enough  to  associate  with  a 
multitude  of  young  persons,  who  at  the  outset  appeared 
tolerable  ;  now  that  I  have  discovered  how  many  pre- 
cious hours  they  make  me  waste,  I  must  take  decided 
measures  to  get  quit  of  them." 

But  though  anxious  to  free  himself  from  these  con- 
nexions, Perthes  by  no  means  sought  to  avoid  all  so- 
ciety. His  natural  disposition,  fostered  by  early 
habits,  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  find  entire  satis- 
faction in  what  books  alone  could  afford  ;  to  become 
what  he  was  capable  of  becoming,  he  needed  both 
correspondence  and  personal  intercourse  with  men  ca- 
pable of  exercising  influence  over  his  mind,  men  of 
different  positions,  different  degrees  of  culture,  and  of 
various  tendencies.  He  became  more  and  more  con- 
scious of  this  want.  "  My  heart,"  he  tells  his  uncle, 
"  yearns  for  the  society  of  many,  and  of  cultivated  men. 
Such  society  is  a  necessity  for  me,  and  I  must  compass 
it  unless  I  am  to  sink  entirely."  Hamburgh,  the  most 
stirring  city  of  Germany  at  that  time,  was  exactly  the 


44  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

place  where  an  ardent  desire  for  the  variety  and  ex- 
citement of  improving  society  miglit  best  be  satisfied. 
As  the  first  commercial  city,  and  the  first  sea-port  of 
Germany,  its  world-wide  trade  had  made  it  the  centre 
of  the  most  varied  interests,  and  consequently  the 
resort  of  strangers  of  all  nations. 

A  comparatively  small  number  of  congenial  families 
formed  the  centre  around  which  citizens  and  strangers 
of  distinction  alike  gathered.  Biisch,  whose  writings 
on  political  economy  and  commerce  enjoyed  a  great 
and  wide-spread  celebrity  was  already  advanced  in 
years  ;  but  the  Commercial  Academy,  of  which  he  was 
President,  was  the  means  of  bringing  strangers  from 
all  parts  of  Europe  to  his  liouse,  where  all  that  was 
most  distinguished  for  wit,  talent,  or  learning,  was  to 
be  met  with. 

When  Perthes,  then  in  his  twenty-second  year,  first 
came  to  live  in  Hamburgh,  he  was  wliolly  unacquainted 
with  the  opinions  and  objects  that  formed  the  centre- 
point  of  this  society  ;  but  he  saw  that  the  life  there  led 
was  one  of  some  significance,  and  longed  to  obtain  ad- 
mission into  the  circle.  "  How  my  heart  beats,"  he 
writes  to  his  uncle,  "  when  I  think  of  such  eminent 
families,  as  those  of  Biisch,  Reimarus  and  Sieveking, 
and  when  I  meet  with  young  men  who  are  privileged 
to  enjoy  in  their  society  the  genuine  pleasures  of  life. 
I  must  and  I  will  find  an  entree  speedily." 

This  was  not,  however,  so  easy  a  matter.  The  dis- 
tinction between  the  business  of  the  wholesale  and 
that  of  the  retail  dealer,  a  distinction  grounded  in  the 
nature  of  the  occupations,  was  strongly  marked  at 
Hamburgh,  by  the  fact  of  its  being  recognized  in  the 
yery  constitution  of  the  city.     The  merchant  might 


FIRST   IMPRESSIONS   OP    HAMBURGH.  45 

become  a  member  of  the  Senate,  the  tradesman  only 
of  what  are  called  the  burgher  colleges. 

Perthes,  moreover,  was  poor,  and  had  neither  con- 
nexions nor  introductions.  It  was  a  happy  accident 
that  first  brought  him  in  contact  with  the  Sievekings  ; 
and  his  first  appearance  among  them  was  an  event 
of  some  importance  to  a  youth  brought  up  in  the  most 
limited  circumstances — an  entrance  into  an  entirely 
new  sphere  of  life.  "  My  neighbor  at  the  table,"  he 
tells  his  uncle,  *'  was  Biisch,  a  man  of  seventy,  almost 
blind,  and  not  a  little  deaf;  he  would  insist  on  my 
helping  him  to  everything  ;  and  as  each  dish  was  pre- 
sented, he  said,  'What's  that?'  Now  I,  you  know, 
had  neither  seen,  smelt,  nor  tasted  any  of  the  dishes 
before  in  my  life,  and  as  each  dish  was  presented,  I 
was  obliged  to  proclaim  my  ignorance,  in  a  loud  voice, 
which  was  laughable  enough  both  to  me  and  to  every 
one  else  ! "  The  intimacy  here  quickly  gained  for  him 
a  welcome  among  the  friends  and  relations  of  the  fam- 
ily. Numerous  invitations  and  much  consequent  men- 
tal excitement  followed,  but  still  the  inward  struggle 
and  uncertainty  were  the  same. 

"  I  have,"  he  writes  to  a  friend,  "  tasted  the  intoxi- 
cating pleasures  of  a  world  in  which  all  is  collision 
and  opposition  ;  carried  away  by  them,  like  many 
others,  I  am  not :  I  have  had  my  experiences,  but  I  am 
not  the  better  for  them,  and  not  to  become  better  is  to 
^become  worse." 

In  the  society  of  the  most  distinguished  families  of 
Hamburg]),  Perthes  had  hoped  to  meet  with  influences 
of  an  improving  kind,  which  might  give  a  new  direc- 
tion to  liis  character  ;  but  the  difference  of  years,  of 
social  position,  and  the  fact  that  his  spiritual  wants 


46  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

were  not  experienced  by  his  new  friends,  made  this 
quite  hopeless.  Three  men  about  his  own  age  were 
now  destined  to  exercise  a  powerful  influence  on  his 
moral  progress.  "  I  have  now,"  he  writes  in  Septem- 
ber, 1794,  "  become  acquainted  with  three  men,  who,  in 
spite  of  their  very  different  characters,  participate  in 
each  others'  sentiments  on  almost  every  subject.  One 
of  them,  Speckter,  is  a  scholar,  entirely  devoted  to  the 
critical  philosophy,  and  the  intimate  friend  of  the  phi- 
losopher Reinhold.  The  second,  Runge,  is  a  merchant, 
the  ablest  mind  with  which  I  have  yet  come  in  contact; 
the  other,  Hulsenbeck,  is  inferior  to  neither." 

Perthes  was  two-and-twenty  years  of  age  when  he 
was  introduced  to  these  new  friends.  His  small  and 
slender,  though  firm  and  well-formed  body,  his  curling 
hair  and  fine  complexion,  and  a  peculiarly  delicate 
curve  in  the  formation  of  the  eye,  gave  to  his  appear- 
ance an  almost  girlish  charm.  Singularly  susceptible, 
the  slightest  allusion  to  women  brought  the  color  to 
his  cheeks.  When  he  had  determined  on  carrying  out 
some  settled  purpose,  the  decision  and  resoluteness  of 
his  mind  were  manifest  in  the  expressiveness  of  his 
slender  form  ;  his  strong  sonorous  voice,  his  bearing, 
and  every  gesture,  indicated  that  he  both  could  and 
would  carry  out  his  resolution.  "  Little  Perthes  has 
the  most  manly  spirit  of  us  all,"  said  his  friends  ;  and 
they  had  many  stories  to  tell  of  the  surprising  power 
which  his  invincible  will  had  exercised  over  the  stub- 
bornness and  physical  superiority  of  strong  rough  men. 
Perthes  was  conscious  of  his  power,  and  in  reliance  on 
it,  would  often,  both  then  and  in  more  advanced  life, 
advance  boldly  to  encounter  difficulties  in  circum- 
stances under  which  men  wlio  possessed  more  physical 


FIRST   IMPRESSIONS   OF    HAMBURGH.  47 

strength  would  have  quietly  held  on  their  way.  He 
was  not  generally  afraid  of  a  coming  evil,  though  he 
would  tremble  at  the  recollection  of  a  danger  past. 

At  the  beginning  of  tlieir  acquaintance,  Perthes  ex- 
erted a  gently  constraining  influence  on  the  three 
friends,  and  on  Herterich,  who  had  recently  been  ad- 
mitted to  their  circle.  "  Perthes  is  a  man  to  whom  I 
feel  marvellously  attracted  by  his  tender  susceptibility, 
and  his  earnest  striving  after  all  that  is  noble,"  writes 
Speckter  at  this  time  :  "  I  thank  you  for  having  made 
me  acquainted  with  such  a  man."  Range  writing  at  a 
later  period  says,  "  I  could  not  withdraw  my  eyes  from 
him — the  charm  of  his  external  appearance  I  could  not 
but  regard  as  the  true  expression  of  his  inner  nature." 
But  the  impression  that  Perthes  on  his  side  received 
was  one  of  a  far  deeper  kind  :  "I  am  now,"  he  tells  his 
uncle,  "  enjoying  to  the  uttermost  all  that  a  quick  and 
ardent  sensibility  can  enjoy.  I  have  found  three 
friends  full  of  talent  and  heart — of  pure  and  upright 
minds — and  distinguished  by  great  and  varied  culture. 
When  they  saw  my  striving  after  the  good,  and  my 
love  for  the  beautiful, — when  they  perceived  how  I 
sought  and  endeavored,  they  gave  me  their  friendship, 
and,  oh  !  how  happy  I  now  am  !  Througli  them  I  have 
attained  what  I  stood  most  in  need  of.  They  know 
how  to  call  into  life  and  activity  all  that  is  best  in  me. 
I  am  like  a  fish  thrown  from  the  dry  land  into  the 
water.  Do  not  say  that  this  is  enthusiasm  ;  for  a  feel- 
ing is  not  to  be  regarded  as  enthusiastic  because  a  man 
experiences  it  in  its  full  power  only  in  hours  of  peculiar 
elevation  ;  such  hours  are  rather  to  be  regarded  as 
those  in  which  a  man  is  most  truly  himself."  This 
friendship  with  men  whose  minds  were  more  matured 


48  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

than  his  own,  gave  him  a  deeper  interest  in  the  appear- 
ance of  the  great  literary  works  of  that  period.  "  Have 
you  read  Goethe's  '  Lehrjalire,"  he  writes  ;  how  sim- 
ple, and  how  grand  !  and  that  there  is  anything  finer 
than  '  Iphigenie'  I  do  not  believe." 

It  was  Speckter  who  first  directed  the  inquiring  youth 
to  Schiller's  poem,  "  Die  Kiinstler,"  (the  Artists,)  con- 
stantly urging  upon  him  the  lines,  "  It  is  only  through 
the  morning  gate  of  the  beautiful  that  you  can  penetrate 
into  the  realm  of  knowledge,"  and  "  that  which  we  here 
feel  as  beauty,  we  shall  one  day  know  as  truth."  Runge 
then  helped  him  to  comprehend  Schiller's  assthetic  let- 
ters. It  soon  appeared  to  him  as  if  a  grand  error, 
embracing  all  time,  had  been  overthrown  by  Schiller, 
when  he  said,  "  It  is  not  enough  that  all  enlightenment 
of  the  understanding  is  worthy  of  respect  only  in  so 
far  as  it  reacts  upon  character  ;  this  enlightenment 
must  also  flow  from  the  character,  because  the  way  to 
the  head  is  only  through  the  heart.  The  cultivation  of 
our  feelings  is  therefore  the  grand  necessity."  "  I 
entreat  you  to  read  the  aesthetic  letters,"  he  wrote  to 
Campe  ;  "  take  pains  to  comprehend  them,  make  them 
your  own,  and  you  will  reap  your  reward  ;  for  the 
views  therein  opened  up  of  the  beautiful,  and  of  the 
whole  condition  and  capabilities  of  man,  are  the  most 
sublime  and  the  truest  that  have  ever  penetrated  my 
soul."  And  again,  "  0  brother  !  let  us  become  good, 
genuine  men,  approaching  more  and  more  within  the 
sphere  of  the  moral  and  the  beautiful.  When  we  have 
ourselves  attained  a  sure  footing,  we  may  then  influence 
others  ;  we  may  attain  it,  but  only  tlirough  the  beau- 
tiful, for  through  it  alone  can  goodness  find  entrance." 
He  was  now  penetrated  w^ith  the  liveliest  gratitude 


FIRST   IMPRESSIONS   OP   HAMBURGH.  49 

towards  his  friends  for  the  new  convictions  which  they 
had  awakened  within  him.  "I  had  despaired  of 
myself,"  he  writes,  "  while  I  was  striving  in  vain  to 
become  virtuous  by  the  sacrifice  of  all  feeling,  spiritual 
as  well  as  sensuous.  Constantly  failing  to  fulfil  my 
purpose,  I  lived  in  the  constant  dread  of  being  an  ob- 
ject of  contempt  to  the  men  whom  I  loved.  Where  was 
I  to  find  support  ?  I  had  discarded  as  worthless  all 
that  was  most  peculiar  to  my  character.  You  it  was 
who  taught  me  to  recognize  what  I  had  thus  discarded, 
and  strengthened  it  in  me  by  your  love  ;  and  your  love 
will  guarantee  it  to  me  as  long  as  I  am  upon  earth. 
You  it  was  who  led  me  to  '  the  morning  gate  of  the 
beautiful ;'  and  now  it  stands  open  before  me — and 
now  I  may,  and  will  strive  after  that  which  is  most 
wanting  in  me, — constancy  and  equipoise." 

Perthes  was  soon  to  discover,  that  even  within  the 
portals  of  the  beautiful  there  were  paths  of  darkness 
and  perplexity  ;  and  it  was  well  for  him,  that  just  as 
this  experience  was  beginning  to  dawn  upon  his  mind, 
he  was  forced  to  concentrate  all  his  powers  on  the 
business  of  active  life. 


V. 


HE  society  in  which  Perthes  now  mixed  made 
him  feel  keenly  the  defects  of  his  own  educa- 
tion, defects  which  he  saw  little  likelihood  of 
his  now  being  able  to  supply.  The  daily  calls 
of  business  occupied  every  hour.  "  In  cul- 
ture," he  says,  "  I  make  no  progress,  and  can- 
not hope  to  make  any  :  this  is  a  source  of 
grief  to  me."  He  hoped,  one  day,  to  be  able  to  retire, 
with  a  small  sum,  to  some  secluded  spot,  where  he  might 
devote  himself  to  study,  and  give  unity  to  his  various 
but  only  partially  digested  knowledge.  "  Campe,"  he 
writes,  "  stigmatizes  this  desire  for  culture  as  vanity  : 
*A  man  must  not  live  for  himself,'  he  maintains,  *  but  to 
be  useful  to  others.'  But  he  is  certainly  wrong,  and  I 
do  not  agree  with  him."  His  future  was  pretty  sure, 
as  his  uncle  in  Gotha  had  promised  him  the  reversion 
of  his  business.  "  My  plan  of  life  is  so  simple,"  he  said, 
"  that  I  do  not  see  how  anything  could  occur  to  thwart 
it." 

It  was  only  a  few  weeks  after  he  had  thus  expressed 
himself,  that  Reimarus  and  Sieveking  proposed  to  him 
to  enter  into  the  publishing  trade  with  a  young  friend 
of  their  own,  promising  to  provide  the  necessary  means: 
but  not  feeling  sufficient  confidence  in  his  knowledge 

(50) 


ESTABLISHMENT   IN   BUSINESS.  61 

of  business,  (he  was  then  two-and-twenty,)  or  in  the 
partner  whom  they  destined  for  him,  he  gratefully  de- 
clined the  offer.  But  from  that  moment  he  formed  the 
resolution  to  establish  a  business  of  his  own  in  Ham- 
burgh, as  soon  as  he  had  acquired  the  requisite  expe- 
rience. He  hoped  to  get  his  friend  Nessig  for  a  part- 
ner, and  meanwhile  succeeded  in  securing  for  him  an 
engagement  in  Hoffmann's  establishment. 

At  the  outset  indeed,  Perthes  regarded  the  book-trade 
as  the  means  of  acquiring  property  and  achieving  in- 
dependence ;  but  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  his  *'  be- 
loved book-trade,"  as  he  was  wont  to  call  it,  to  the 
whole  intellectual  life  of  the  German  people,  soon  took 
such  entire  possession  of  his  soul,  that  during  the  whole 
course  of  his  long  life,  we  are  justified  in  saying,  the  mere 
question  of  gain  had  little  weight  with  him.  Where 
a  large  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  book-trade  did 
not  exist,  it  seemed  to  him  that  learning  and  art  were 
endangered  by  its  operations.  "  If  there  be  no  blower,'' 
he  would  say,  "  the  greatest  artiste  would  strike  the 
organ  to  no  purpose.''  In  more  than  one  district  where 
literature  lay  dead,  he  had  seen  it  revive  and  flourish 
by  the  settlement  of  an  active  bookseller  in  the  locality. 

Regarding  the  business  from  this  point  of  view,  he 
could  not  but  complain  that  far  too  little  attention  had 
hitherto  been  devoted  to  this  most  interesting  branch 
of  industry.  He  had  further  observed,  that  where  a 
bookseller  possessed  an  educated  taste,  works  of  a  high 
class  were  in  demand  ;  and  that  where,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  bookseller  was  a  man  of  low  taste  and  im- 
moral character,  a  licentious  and  worthless  literature 
had  a  wide  circulation.  Supported  by  these  facts, 
Perthes  ascribed  to  the  book-trade  in  general,  and  to 


52  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

each  individual  bookseller,  an  important  influence  on 
the  direction  in  which  the  public  sought  its  mental 
food  ;  and  clearly  perceiving  the  influence  of  literature 
upon  thought  and  life,  he  was  convinced  both  then  and 
throughout  his  whole  life,  that  the  book- trade,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  conducted,  had  a  most  impor- 
tant part  to  play  in  giving  direction  to  the  course  of 
events. 

He  was  aware  that  the  book-trade  could  be  managed 
mechanically,  and  viewed  merely  as  a  means  of  liveli- 
hood, but  he  saw  elsewhere  also,  among  priests  and 
professors,  ministers  and  generals,  some  who,  in  giving 
their  services,  thought  only  of  their  daily  bread.  A 
shudder  came  over  him  when  he  saw  booksellers  make 
common  cause  with  a  crew  of  scribblers  who  hired  out 
their  wits  for  stabling  and  provender. 

"  Where,"  writes  he  in  1794,  "  where  will  you  find  a 
body  of  men  so  deficient  in  the  requisite  information, 
and  so  negligent  of  the  duties  of  their  calling,  as  the 
booksellers  ?  Germany  is  deluged  with  wretched  and 
abominable  publications,  and  will  be  delivered  from 
this  plague  only  when  the  booksellers  shall  care  more 
for  honor  than  for  gold." 

His  friend  Campe  had  proposed  to  institute  a  tribu- 
nal of  booksellers,  and  thus  to  render  impossible  the 
publication  of  injurious  works.  But  earnestly  as  Per- 
thes desired  the  elevation  of  the  calling  to  which  with 
all  the'  energy  of  his  nature  he  had  now  devoted  him- 
self, he  nevertheless  regarded  the  execution  of  such  a 
proposal  to  be  not  only  impracticable  but  dangerous — 
introducing,  in  fact,  a  censorship  of  the  press  in  an- 
other form.  It  was  only  in  the  elevation  of  the  whole 
body  and  of  each  individual  member,  that  he  hoped  for 


ESTABLISHMENT   IN   BUSINESS.  63 

progress.  "  Dear  Campe/'  he  writes,  "  in  order  to  bring 
about  all  that  is  possible  and  desirable,  let  us  first  see 
that  we  ourselves  are  what  we  ought  to  be  ;  let  us  also 
increase  our  knowledge,  and  strive  as  much  as  possi- 
ble to  win  for  our  opinions  friends  and  advocates 
among  the  young  people  of  our  own  standing.  There 
are  now  five  of  us,  and  what  may  not  five  accomplish 
if  only  they  be  in  earnest  ?  Let  each  strive  to  diffuse 
a  high  tone  over  his  peculiar  circle  ;  let  each  seek  out 
some  choice  spirits,  and  if  we  persevere,  and  God  favor 
us,  what  may  we  not  accomplish  ? — what  good  may  we 
not  be  the  means  of  bringing  about  ?  Write  me  your 
views  on  this  subject,  I  entreat  you,  quickly,  and  at 
length." 

Perthes  desired  to  be  independent,  and  to  exercise 
a  widespread  influence  by  means  of  his  calling.  He 
had  become  so  much  attached  to  Hamburgh,  that  it 
seemed  almost  impossible  to  leave  it ;  he  was  constant- 
ly revolving  in  his  mind  the  practicability  of  founding 
a  business  there,  and  the  change  introduced  shortly 
before  into  the  manner  of  conducting  the  book-trade, 
appeared  likely  to  facilitate  the  carrying  of  his  wish 
into  effect. 

Perthes  was  of  opinion  that  in  the  present  position 
of  the  book-trade  he  might,  without  running  any  im- 
proper risk,  found  a  business  in  Hamburgh,  and  by 
conducting  it  on  liberal  principles,  stimulate  the  liter- 
ary appetite  to  such  an  extent  as  to  benefit  ratlier  than 
to  damage  the  existing  "  Houses."  He  was  only  four- 
and-twenty,  but  "  more  at  liberty  on  that  account,"  he 
wrote  to  his  uncle,  "  to  enter  on  a  great  undertaking, 
as  I  may  look  forward  to  ten  years  of  labor  without 
thinking  of  marriage." 


54  GAROLINE   PERTHES. 

A  thousand  pounds  of  capital,  however,  was  neces- 
sary, and  Perthes  had  nothing.  Nessig,  however,  was 
willing  to  become  his  partner,  and  to  bring  a  capital 
of  £300.  A  loan  from  one  of  his  old  Swabian  friends, 
and  the  associating  in  the  enterprise  of  a  young  Ham- 
burgh merchant,  gave  him  command  of  the  necessary 
funds.  The  firm  was  to  be  under  Pertlies'  name.  In 
Easter,  1796,  he  left  his  situation  and  proceeded  to 
Leipzig  Fair,  in  order  to  open  up  comn^iunications  with 
publishers.  The  circular  which  he  issued  was  to  the 
following  effect : — 

"  I  wish  to  signify  to  you  my  intention  of  establish- 
ing myself  in  Hamburgh  as  a  bookseller,  and  to  beg 
your  confidence  and  support  in  this  undertaking.  In 
asking  this,  it  becomes  my  duty  to  give  some  informa- 
tion concerning  my  past  experience  in  the  business  I 
propose  to  conduct.  Allow  me  to  refer  you  to  Herr 
Bohme  of  Leipzig,  under  whom  I  served  six  years,  and 
to  Herr  Hoffmann  of  Hamburgh,  whom  I  have  served 
for  the  last  three  years.  If  you  think  it  necessary  to 
make  any  further  inquiries,  I  shall  endeavor  to  give  you 
every  possible  satisfaction,  either  orally  or  in  writing." 

The  old  men  were  not  without  misgivings  as  to  the 
prudence  of  giving  credit  to  a  young  man  of  four-and- 
twenty,  who  so  boldly  established  a  business  of  his 
own.  Perthes  required  larger  sums  of  money  than  he 
had  anticipated  ;  he  fell  into  the  most  painful  perplex- 
ity ;  but  the  faithfulness  of  his  three  Hamburgh  friends 
extricated  him  from  his  difficulties.  ''  You  will  have 
heard,"  he  writes  to  Campe,  "  how  things  fell  out  at 
the  Fair,  but  happily,  amid  so  many  other  childish 
pleasures,  I  had  also  that  of  procuring  a  few  thousand 
dollars  ;  and  that  was  pleasant, — very  pleasant ! " 


ESTABLISHMENT   IN   BUSINESS.  5^^ 

In  the  midst  of  tlie  throng  and  tumult  of  business, 
his  old  passion  for  Frederika  returned.  He  had  per- 
suaded himself  that  his  love  was  no  longer  a  passion, 
nothing  but  pleasure  in  reflecting  on  the  intelligence 
and  gracefulness  of  the  maiden,  and  had,  indeed,  en- 
gaged to  renounce  her  in  favor  of  his  friend.  But,  in 
the  presence  of  the  beautiful  girl,  the  fire  that  had 
warmed  his  earlier  youth  was  rekindled.  "  There  she 
stands  before  me,"  he  writes,  "  in  all  her  power  and  in 
the  full  consciousness  of  her  freedom — earnest — free 
from  all  petty  vanity — her  eye  full  of  thought,  every 
feature  beaming  with  life  and  expression  ;  and,  when 
her  eye  looks  into  mine,  passion  takes  possession  of 
me,  and  in  the  depths  of  my  heart  I  feel  that  I  am  on 
the  threshold  of  a  great  decision."  The  promise  he 
had  made  to  himself  to  win  her  for  his  friend,  not  for 
himself,  he  now  regarded  as  an  evil  destiny.  "  Such 
overflowing  happiness,"  he  exclaimed,  "  I  saw  for  my- 
self in  that  beaming  eye  !  and  I  find  that  in  all — all, 
I  have  been  the  victim  of  self-delusion,  and  that  I  am 
poor  and  helpless.  I  ought  to  withdraw  from  her 
presence,  and  I  cannot.  Must  I  keep  my  purpose, 
even  when  it  is  I,  not  he,  whom  she  loves  ?  No  ;  I 
cannot,  for  love  to  me  gleams  in  her  eye." 

He  saw  but  one  way  of  escaping  from  this  struggle 
between  passion  and  duty.  He  at  once  wrote  frankly 
to  Nessig  explaining  all,  and  while  awaiting  his  an- 
swer, he  employed  a  friend  to  break  the  matter  to 
Frederika.  Perthes  and  Nessig  each  made  an  offer  of 
his  hand  ;  the  choice  was  to  rest  with  her,  and  the 
rejected  was  to  withdraw  in  peace,  and,  in  all  fidelity, 
to  live  and  labor  for  the  beloved  pair. 
"  Frederika,"  wrote  Perthes,  "  listened  without  chang- 


66  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

ing  color,  remained  silent  for  a  short  time,  and  then, 
with  deep  earnestness,  replied, — '  I  love  Perthes,  I  love 
Nessig  ;  but  my  hand  I  can  give  to  neither.'  And 
now,"  proceeds  Perthes,  "  I  feel  sad  and  perplexed  ; 
for  is  it  not  I  who  have  called  forth  this  decision  of 
Nessig's  destiny  ?  " 

A  letter  from  his  friend  relieved  him  from  the  load 
of  self-reproach,  but  the  future  now  appeared  empty 
and  desolate.  "  My  whole  life-plan  is  ruined — ruined 
by  her !  I  have  done  with  life.  God  give  me  comfort 
and  strength ! " 

In  another  letter  he  thus  expresses  himself, — "You 
think  the  hard  coldness  with  which  I  endure  all  this 
sorrow  unnatural ;  you  would  have  me  give  way  to 
tenderness  and  melancholy.  Well,  I  will  obey  you, 
and  in  future  learn  to  submit ;  hitherto  I  have  trusted 
too  much  in  myself." 

The  necessity  of  working  hard  in  order  to  give  a 
fair  start  to  the  new  business,  was  now  a  grievous 
burden  to  Perthes.  "  Would  that  I  had  never  begun  I 
but  the  thing  is  done.  Already  I  am  under  heavy 
engagements  to  others,  and  these  I  must  and  I  will 
fulfil,  like  an  honorable  man." 

He  returned  to  Hamburgh,  and  there  had  the  delight 
of  receiving  his  mother  and  sister,  to  whom  he  was 
now  in  a  position  to  offer  a  home.  He  now  devoted 
himself,  with  all  the  energy  of  his  nature,  to  those  pre- 
liminary labors  on  which  the  successful  opening  of  the 
business  depended.  He  was  the  first  bookseller  who 
displayed  a  selection  of  the  best  works,  old  and  new, 
in  all  the  various  branches  of  literature,  classified  and 
arranged.  His  shop  presented  the  appearance  of  a 
small  but  well-chosen  library,  and  the  addition  of  the 


ESTABLISHMENT   IN   BUSINESS.  67 

periodicals  of  the  day  oJBFered  the  means  of  gaining  a 
general  view  of  the  actual  state  of  literature,  its  move- 
ments and  its  tendencies.  Perthes  started  business  in 
a  stirring  quarter  of  the  city. 

"  The  house  which  I  have  rented,"  he  writes,  "  for  a 
thousand  marks,  is  quite  a  wonder  in  Hamburgh,  for, 
from  top  to  bottom,  all  is  literary.  On  the  ground 
floor  book-shelves  ;  up  one  stair  the  same  ;  up  two 
stairs  Dr.  Ersch,  as  editor  of  the  newspaper,  recently 
set  on  foot  ;  on  the  third  story.  Dr.  Ersch  as  littera- 
teur and  helper's  helper  to  Meusel  and  his  associates  ; 
on  the  fourth,  French  booksellers  in  front,  and  at  the 
back,  the  sleeping  apartments  of  the  young  German 
booksellers  ;  up  five  stairs  a  loft,  which  may  be  used 
for  a  storeroom." 

"  My  own  domestic  arrangements,"  he  tells  his  aunt, 
"  are  on  a  small  scale,  but  tolerably  neat  ;  I  think  you 
would  approve  of  them  ;  at  least  my  love  of  order  is 
becoming  a  terror  to  all  the  household." 

The  preparations  being  all  made,  Perthes  announced 
the  opening  of  his  business  by  the  following  advertise- 
ment in  the  "  Hamburgh  Correspondent,"  of  the  11th 
July,  1796  : — '*  I  hereby  make  known  that  I  have 
established  a  new  bookseller's  shop,  which  is  now 
opened.  In  my  shop  the  best  books  published  in  Ger- 
many, old  and  new,  are  to  be  found  ;  and  I  venture  to 
promise,  that  I  will  procure  any  book  which  is  to  be 
had  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  A  portion  of  my  as- 
sortment is  ready  bound,  in  order  to  meet  the  wishes 
of  the  reading  public  more  readily,  to  facilitate  to  the 
purchaser  the  knowledge  of  what  he  is  buying,  and  to 
supply  the  wants  of  the  passing  traveller  more  ade- 
quately. 

3* 


58  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

"  I  am  persuaded  that  by  beginning  in  this  manner, 
I  have  engaged  in  a  useful  enterprise.  Whatever  may 
be  incomplete  and  defective  in  the  manner  of  carrying 
out  my  arrangements,  I  shall  endeavor  to  remedy  as 
soon  as  I  have  acquired  a  better  acquaintance  with  the 
wishes  of  the  public.  In  order  to  make  a  visit  to  my 
shop  agreeable,  and,  so  far  as  I  am  able  within  my  own 
sphere,  to  aid  in  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  recent  liter- 
ature, 1  shall  take  care  that  a  copy  of  every  German 
journal,  every  novelty  of  the  day,  and  all  writings  of 
general  interest,  shall  always  lie  in  my  shop  for  inspec- 
tion. To  attention,  punctuality,  and  politeness  to  those 
who  shall  visit  me,  I  pledge  myself  in  all  circumstances 
as  a  duty." 

The  biisiness  was  now  established  with  good  hope 
of  success.  It  was,  as  Perthes  said  later  in  life,  a  bold 
and  adventurous  youthful  undertaking  ;  but  it  was 
founded  on  a  correct  insight  into  the  important  move- 
ments and  necessities  of  the  literary  life  of  that  period. 


VI 


N  July,  1796,  only  a  few  weeks  after  Perthes  had 
J)  commenced  business,  a  tall,  slender  man,  with 
a  finely-formed  face,  a  darkish  complexion,  and 
glorious,  thoughtful  blue  eyes,  entered  the 
shop.  He  appeared  to  be  about  fifty,  but  in 
all  his  movements  there  was  the  ease  and  power 
of  youth.  His  dress,  expression,  and  bearing, 
had  the  air  of  being  studied  and  yet  perfectly  natural. 
His  fine  and  noble  bearing  soon  attracted  the  attention 
of  Perthes  ;  it  was  Friedrich  Heinrich  Jacobi,  who 
having  left  Diisseldorf,  was  at  that  time  residing  in 
Holstein  and  Hamburgh.  Superiority  was  stamped 
upon  him,  but  it  was  neither  cold  nor  repulsive.  The 
attractiveness  of  his  appearance  inspired  immediate 
confidence  ;  and  Perthes  had  scarcely  given  the  neces^ 
sary  replies  to  his  inquiries,  when  he  expressed  to  the 
astonished  author  of  Waldemar,  the  reverence  and  af- 
fection with  which  he  had  instantaneously  been  i^- 
spired.  He,  at  the  same  time,  gave  the  friendly  listener 
a  glimpse  into  his  own  earnest  striving,  and  the  uncer- 
tain ground  on  whicli  he  stood.  Jacobi  was  pleased 
with  his  candor  and  animation,  returned  after  a  few 
days,  and  from  that  time  became  a  frequenter  of  the 
shop,  now  turning  over  the  leaves  of  the  new  French, 

(59) 


60  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

English,  and  German  publications,  and  now  conversing 
with  their  owner. 

A  few  weeks  later,  in  August,  1796,  Perthes  was  in- 
vited to  visit  Jacobi  at  Wandsbeck,  where  he  was  then 
living.  There  he  saw  Jacobins  youngest  son  Max,  who 
had  just  finished  his  medical  studies  in  England,  and 
the  two  sisters  of  his  host,  Charlotte  and  Helena. 
Clever,  lively,  and  deeply  interested  in  all  the  literary 
movements  of  the  period,  the  sisters  at  the  same  time 
discharged  all  household  duties  with  praiseworthy 
energy  and  self-denying  care.  From  this  time  Perthes 
enjoyed  the  privilege  of  joining  the  circle  at  Jacobi's 
as  often  as  he  pleased,  and  that  was  not  seldom. 
Helena  became  a  real,  motherly  friend  to  him,  and  her 
brother  a  paternal  counsellor,  ever  ready  to  enter  into 
the  feelings,  to  sympathize  with  the  inward  struggle, 
and  to  answer  the  doubts  and  questionings  of  his 
young  friend,  admonishing  and  instructing  him,  and 
thus  doing  much  to  further  his  mental  development. 
"  I  love  and  honor  the  glorious  man  as  I  love  and  honor 
none  beside,"  he  writes  to  his  uncle.  "  I  met  him  with 
a  full  heart ;  he  recognized  it,  and  thought  it  worth  his 
while  to  occupy  himself  with  my  inner  being." 

Jacobi  and  Claudius  were  closely  connected  with 
the  most  cultivated  society  of  Holstein. 

A  number  of  eminent  men,  most  of  whom  were 
more  or  less  intimate,  were  at  this  time  living  in  Hol- 
stein, either  on  their  estates,  or  in  the  smaller  towns  ; 
and  these  diffused  life  and  activity  throughout  the 
whole  duchy.  The  Greeks  and  Romans,  nature  and 
art,  religious  topics  and  politics, — all  had  their  friends 
and  partisans  in  this  country.  Niebuhr  the  father  had 
been  living  at  Meldorf  in   the  Siiderditmarsh  since 


NEW   ACQUAINTANCES.  61 

1778,  intimately  associated  with  Boie,  the  editor  of 
"The  German  Museum,"  who  held  the  office  of  Land- 
vogt ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  like  Niebuhr,  liad  an  ex- 
tensive connexion  with  the  men  and  affairs  of  foreign 
countries.  Count  Leopold  Frederick  Stolberg  had, 
on  his  return  from  Italy  in  December,  1792,  fixed  his 
residence  at  Eutin,  as  president  of  the  government  of 
the  principality.  He  was  then,  as  during  his  whole 
career,  full  of  life,  spirit,  and  love,  and  yet  restless  and 
unsettled,  because,  as  a  Protestant,  he  could  not  find 
for  his  religious  convictions  that  firm  external  support 
of  which  he  felt  the  necessity.  Nicolovius,  the  late 
director  of  the  ministry  of  public  worship  in  Prussia, 
worked  under  Stolberg.  Yoss  had  come  to  Eutin  as 
Rector  of  the  Academy  of  Otterndorf,  and  had  long 
been  known  and  esteemed  among  the  Holstein  circles. 
Both  the  Stolbergs  had  been  united  with  him  in  the 
association  of  poets  at  Gottingen,  and  from  1775  to 
1778  he  declared  that  he  had  led  the  happiest  life  at 
Wandsbeck,  in  the  society  of  Claudius  and  his  noble 
friends. 

At  Emkendorf,  between  Kiel  and  Rendsburg,  lived 
Count  Frederick  Reventlow,  who  had  retired  to  this 
estate  after  his  recall  from  London,  where  he  had  filled 
the  office  of  Danish  ambassador.  As  a  zealous  cham- 
pion of  the  necessity  of  the  closest  adherence  to  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  as  Curator  of  the  National  Uni- 
versity, and  as  a  stanch  maintainer  of  the  rights  of 
the  nobility,  he  incurred  much  odium  ;  but  his  talents 
and  integrity,  joined  to  the  refinement  of  his  manners 
and  his  knowledge  of  the  world,  excited  general  ad- 
miration. His  wife  Julia,  (born  Countess  Schimmel- 
mann,)  by  her  intellectual  vivacity,  her  unassuming 


62  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

piety,  and  her  cheerful  resignation  under  severe  per- 
sonal sufferings,  as  well  as  by  her  judicious  kindness  to 
her  dependants,  had  won  the  friendship  and  respect 
even  of  those  who  did  not  share  her  opinions.  This 
house  was  the  frequent  resort  of  Jacobi,  Claudius, 
the  Stolbergs,  Cramer  the  father,  and  Hensler  ;  and 
the  gravity  and  refinement  by  which  it  was  distinguished 
were  free  from  all  formality,  and  interfered  neither 
with  the  pleasures  of  literature,  nor  with  the  animation 
and  cheerfulness  of  their  social  life. 

The  brother  of  Count  Reventlow,  the  Count  Caius, 
had  his  residence  at  Altenhof,  near  Eckernford,  on  the 
Baltic.  In  refinement  of  manner  and  general  culture 
he  was  perhaps  inferior  to  his  brother  ;  but  in  energy, 
in  business  capacity,  and  activity  of  character,  he  sur- 
passed him  ;  while  in  intelligence  and  extent  of  knowl- 
edge he  was  not  his  inferior.  Closely  connected  with 
both  was  Count  Christian  Stolberg,  at  that  time  War- 
den of  Tremsbiittel,  a  town  situated  about  three  miles 
from  Hamburgh.  It  was  not  owing  so  much  to  the 
Count  himself  as  to  his  wife  Louisa,  (born  Countess  of 
Reventlow,)  that  his  house  was  peculiarly  attractive 
to  the  friendly  circle.  By  the  acuteness  of  her  under- 
standing, and  the  thoroughness  of  her  education,  the 
Countess  stood  high  in  the  estimation  of  her  friends  ; 
and  she  did  not  hesitate  to  assert,  with  spirit  and  inde- 
pendence, opinions,  political  and  religious,  that  were 
diametrically  opposed  to  those  of  the  kindred  and 
friendly  families  of  Holstein. 

Holstein  was  separated  from  Hamburgh  by  essential 
differences  of  character — differences  which  affected 
their  mode  of  viewing  all  the  events  of  the  day  and 
all  relations  of  life.     Notwithstanding  this,  Claudius, 


NEW    ACQUAINTANCES.  If 

Jacobi,  and  the  two  Stolbergs,  were  fond  of  Hamburgh, 
and,  overlooking  religious  and  political  diversities, 
were  often  to  be  found  there,  enjoying  its  intellectual 
advantages.  But  the  controversy  regarding  the  Con- 
fession was  connected  rather  with  the  influential  circles 
of  Miinsterland,  with  the  Princess  Gallitzin  as  their 
centre,  than  with  Hamburgh.  For  the  elevated  position 
which,  since  the  year  1770,  the  archbishopric  of  Miin- 
ster  had  occupied,  it  had  been  indebted  solely  to  the  Bar- 
on Frederick  William  Francis  von  Fiirstenberg,  who, 
as  Minister  of  Max-Frederick  von  Konigseck,  Archbish- 
op of  Cologne  and  Bishop  of  Miinster,  had  governed 
Miinster  since  1764.  Fiirstenberg  was  a  statesman  in 
the  noblest  sense  of  the  word.  But,  apart  from  his 
merit  as  a  statesman,  Fiirstenberg  enjoyed  a  high  lit- 
erary reputation.  He  had  at  his  command  an  amount  of 
knowledge  and  experience  seldom  to  be  met  with,  and 
was  quite  at  home  in  all  the  literary  and  philosophical 
movements  of  the  period.  Having  been  greatly  ad- 
dicted to  the  art  of  war  in  early  life,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, active  in  promoting  the  cultivation  of  mathe- 
matical studies  and  of  a  vigorous  and  manly  style  of 
education,  he  now,  in  his  advanced  years,  devoted 
himself  to  the  study  of  religion  and  philosophy. 

To  this  man  and  to  this  country  came  the  Russian 
Princess  Gallitzin,  on  a  visit,  in  the  summer  of  1779. 
She  was  the  wife  of  the  ambassador  at  the  Hague. 
Her  object  in  visiting  Miinster  was  to  consult  Fiir- 
stenberg about  her  son,  with  the  intention  of  devoting 
herself  to  his  education,  in  some  country  residence  on 
the  banks  of  the  lake  of  Geneva.  But  so  great  was 
her  admiration  of  the  Minister,  that  she  would  not 
withdraw  herself  from  his  counsel  and  support,  and, 


64  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

consequently,  became  permanently  established  in  Miin- 
ster. 

The  princess,  wlio  was  the  daughter  of  the  Prussian 
Field-Marshal  Count  Schmettau,  had  received  an  edu- 
cation calculated  only  to  fit  her  for  entrance  into  the 
fashionable  world.  In  1768,  when  in  her  twentieth 
year,  she  had  accompanied  the  Princess  Ferdinaud  to 
the  baths  of  Spa,  as  her  maid  of  honor,  and  there  be- 
came acquainted  with  Prince  Gallitzin,  to  whom,  at 
the  end  of  a  few  weeks,  she  was  married.  In  the 
course  of  her  travels  she  had  acquired  some  experience 
of  court-life  in  Vienna,  Paris,  and  London,  and  was 
then  called  to  play  a  distinguished  part  at  the  Hague, 
as  the  consort  of  the  Russian  ambassador.  Her  ambi- 
tion and  vanity  were  flattered  by  the  homage  which 
her  talents  no  less  than  her  position  commanded,  but 
she  was  nevertheless  far  from  being  satisfied  with  her 
condition.  From  her  earliest  youtli  she  had  experi- 
enced an  earnest  desire  for  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
and  the  attainment  of  the  ideal  of  moral  perfection 
which  ever  floated  before  her  in  a  variety  of  forms. 
The  distractions  of  the  great  world  had  never  quenched 
this  desire.  From  the  unbroken  circle  of  amusements 
and  visiting,  of  balls  and  theatrical  representations,  she 
returned  night  after  night  with  a  craving  after  some- 
thing better,  that  grew  in  intensity  till  it  became  a  tor- 
ture. Slie  felt  a  wish  to  withdraw  from  society,  and  to 
quiet  the  internal  struggle  by  devoting  herself  entirely 
to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  and  the  education  of 
her  two  children.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  it 
should  have  been  Diderot  who  obtained  the  consent 
of  the  Prince  to  her  plan,  although  the  philosopher 
had  been  unable  to  comply  with  her  request,  that  he 


NEW   ACQUAINTANCES.  65 

would  introduce  her  into  the  realm  of  knowledge.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-four,  the  princess  had  retired  to  a 
small  secluded  house  near  the  Hague — there  with  an 
energy  bordering  on  passion,  to  follow  out  a  course  of 
scientific  study. 

In  1783,  when  she  and  her  physicians  alike  despaired 
of  her  life,  she  had  dismissed  the  priest  whom  Fiisten- 
berg  had  desired  to  attend  her,  because  she  was 
absolutely  witliout  faith  in  the  efficacy  or  importance 
of  the  Sacraments. 

During  her  long  and  tedious  recovery,  she  for  the 
first  time,  and  much  to  her  alarm,  became  alive  to  the 
fact  that  she  was  a  slave  to  literary  ambition  and  the 
pride  of  learning.  "With  this  discovery,"  she  said, 
"  all  pleasure  in  myself  vanished."  About  this  time 
her  cliildren  were  of  an  age  to  receive  religious  instruc- 
tion, and  she  considered  it  to  be  her  duty  as  a  mother 
to  impart  it.  In  order  at  once  to  preserve  her  own 
integrity,  and  to  keep  from  her  children  her  doubts  on 
the  subject  of  Christianity,  she  resolved  that  the  instruc- 
tion should  be  purely  historical.  For  this  purpose  she 
gave  herself  up  to  the  earnest  study  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, reading  them  by  preference  in  the  Latin  version. 
What  she  liad  entered  on  for  her  children's  sake,  she 
soon  continued  for  her  own.  The  truth  of  Christianity, 
as  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures,  penetrated  her  heart ; 
and  once  convinced,  she  ever  after  strove,  with  all  the 
energies  of  her  powerful  mind,  to  bring  her  life  and 
actions  into  the  strictest  conformity  to  the  truths 
which  she  had  imbibed.  A  small  but  distinguislied 
circle  gathered  round  this  extraordinary  woman.  A 
woman  who,  like  the  Princess  Gallitzin,  surpassed,  in 
breeding  and  culture,  all  her  contemporaries  of  the 


66  CAROLINE   PERTHES.    ' 

same  rank,  and  who  now  linked  with  her  dazzling 
talents  the  faith  of  a  little  child,  could  not  but  make  a 
deep  impression  on  these  powerful  intellects.  Goethe 
and  Lavater,  Herder  and  Hamann,  felt  themselves  in  a 
like  degree,  though  in  different  ways,  attracted  and 
elevated  by  this  remarkable  character. 

All  the  literary  men  of  distinction  lived  in  intimate 
union  during  the  latter  portion  of  the  last  century. 
Holstein  and  Miinster  also  were  brought  into  closer 
relations  through  Hamann.  "Those  times,"  said 
Pertlies,  fifty  years  later,  *'  were  very  unlike  these  in 
which  we  now  live.  The  Holstein  families,  as  well  as 
the  Gallitzin-Droste  circle,  stood  apart  on  account  of 
their  Christian  tendencies.  The  prebendaries,  and 
other  dignitaries  of  Miinster,  with  the  single  exception 
of  the  family  of  Kersenbrock,  looked  upon  the  Church 
with  the  eyes  of  mere  men  of  the  world  ;  while,  among 
the  burgher  class,  luxury  and  vice  were  universally 
prevalent.  Earnest  Christians,  whether  Catholics  or 
Protestants,  were  closely  united.  There  was  no  mutual 
suspicion  or  bitterness  ;  Claudius,  Reventlow,  Jacobi, 
and  the  Stolbergs,  were  often  to  be  found  in  Miinster, 
and  the  Princess  paid  frequent  visits  to  Hamburgh  and 
Holstein  ;  Claudius  and  his  family  especially  attracted 
her.  Their  confessions  of  faith  were  indeed  dissimilar  ; 
Claudius  was  a  decided  Lutheran,  the  Princess  a 
zealous  Catholic.  Her  Catholicism  was  that  of  all 
times,  so  far  as  dogma  and  ceremonial  were  concerned  ; 
but  in  so  far  as  it  was  a  life,  and  presented  itself  as 
such,  it  differed  as  widely  from  the  new-poetic,  and  the 
historico-political  Catholicism  of  the  present,  as  it  did 
from  the  frivolity  of  the  French  and  the  torpidity  of 
the  German  Catholicism  of  last  century.     The  great 


NEW   ACQUAINTANCES.  67 

fact  of  the  Redemption,  the  common  ground  of  Protest- 
antism and  Catholicism,  exercised  such  a  vital  and 
governing  influence  on  the  Princess,  that,  so  far  as  the 
Holstein  circle  was  concerned,  the  diversity  of  confes- 
sions appeared  comparatively  unimportant ;  while  again 
the  names  of  FUrstenberg,  Overberg,  and  the  Princess, 
were  never  mentioned  in  Holstein  save  with  the  great- 
est affection  and  respect." 

No  sooner  had  Perthes  become  a  familiar  guest  in 
the  houses  of  Jacobi  and  Claudius,  than  his  attention 
was  directed  to  these  Holstein  circles.  They  were 
destined  to  exercise  a  powerful  influence  both  on  his 
intellectual  development  and  on  his  worldly  position, 
out  for  a  while  he  knew  them  only  by  report. 

An  event  of  an  important  kind,  one  which  was  to  be 
the  source  of  all  his  earthly  happiness,  was  awaiting 
him. 


VII. 


FEW  weeks  after  Perthes  had  become  ac- 
quainted with  Caroline  Claudius,  he  had  been 
spending  the  morning,  along  with  Jacobi,  at 
the  house  of  Caroline  Rudolphi,  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  well-known  Educational  Insti- 
tute, and  had  received  an  invitation  from  the 
former  to  spend  the  evening  of  the  Christmas 
festivities  with  him. 

Among  the  guests,  Perthes  found  Claudius  and  his 
whole  family.  Before  the  entertainment  commenced, 
accident  threw  him  alone  with  Caroline  in  a  side-room  ; 
he  had  not  a  word  to  say,  but  he  experienced  a  calm 
and  a  happiness  which  he  had  never  felt  before.  The 
Christmas  games  began,  but  Perthes  had  eyes  for  noth- 
ing but  the  expression  of  quiet  pleasure  which  beamed 
in  Caroline's  face.  In  his  opinion  the  best  that  the 
evening  offered  was  hers  by  right,  and  yet  her  younger 
sister's  gift  seemed  better  tlian  hers.  On  the  topmost 
branch  of  the  Christmas  tree  hung  an  apple,  finer  and 
more  richly  gilt  than  any  ;  Perthes  dexterously  reached 
it,  and,  blushing  deeply,  presented  it,  to  the  no  small 
surprise  of  the  company,  to  the  conscious  Caroline. 
From  that  evening  things  went  on  between  them  as 
they  usually  do  between  those  who  are  destined  to  share 
(68; 


THE   BETROTHAL   AND   WEDDING.  69 

the  joys  and  sorrows  of  life  together  as  husband  and 
wife. 

*'  Indeed,"  said  Klopstock,  as  he  was  returning  to 
Hamburgh  with  Perthes,  after  Claudius'  silver  wed- 
ding-day festival,  on  the  15th  of  March,  1797,  "  you 
young  people  are  quite  unconscious  of  the  love  that 
we  have  long  seen  in  you  both ! "  But  Perthes  was 
well  aware  of  the  affection  that  had  taken  possession 
of  his  heart,  and  which  was  daily  growing  deeper. 
He  felt,  however,  that  the  distance  between  himself 
and  Claudius  was  too  great  to  justify  his  approaching 
him  without  friendly  mediation.  He  at  once  told  his 
secret  to  Jacobi  and  his  sisters,  and  entreated  them  to 
ascertain  for  him  whether  there  was  any  hope. 

"  Thank  God !  my  dear  Perthes,"  wrote  Helena  Jacobi 
on  the  27th  of  April,  "  you  are  truly  loved,  and  inas- 
much as  my  courage  is  as  great  as  yours  is  small,  I  see 
a  prospect  of  great  happiness  for  you.  I  could  not 
hear  anything  yesterday  from  Caroline  herself,  for  I 
did  not  find  her  one  minute  alone,  but  I  ascertained 
from  her  mother  enough  to  inspire  me  with  great  con- 
fidence, and  Caroline  looked  so  friendly  that  it  was 
clear  that  she  had  something  pleasant  in  her  thoughts." 

A  few  days  later,  on  the  30th  of  April.  Perthes  ap- 
plied to  Caroline  in  person.  "  How  can  I  ever  for- 
get that  day  of  deep  emotion  in  which  I  first  revealed 
my  love  to  you !  Silent  and  motionless  you  stood  be- 
fore me ;  not  a  word  had  you  to  say  to  me,  but  as  I 
was  sorrowfully  turning  to  leave  you,  you  affection- 
ately put  your  liand  in  mine."  So  in  after  days  wrote 
Perthes. 

Caroline's  love  was  frankly  confessed  and  pledged 
in  the  course  of  the  evening,  but  to  her  father  the  de- 


70  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

cision  not  unnaturally  appeared  a  hasty  one.  Perthes 
had  only  just  entered  his  twenty-fifth  year ;  he  had 
boldly  established  a  business  which  was  attended  with 
considerable  risk,  and  he  was  too  candid  to  conceal 
from  the  father  the  struggle  of  the  conflicting  moral 
principles  that  were  fermenting  in  his  mind.  More- 
over, Claudius  was  not  altogether  free  from  a  species 
of  jealousy.  It  was  a  pain  to  him  to  have  to  resign 
the  protection  of  his  daughter  to  another,  and  it  was 
almost  with  grief  that  he  discovered  that  she  loved  a 
young  and  inexperienced  man  better  than  her  father. 
The  saying,  "  Thou  shalt  leave  father  and  mother," 
was  to  him  a  hard  one.  All  he  could  do  was  to  assure 
Perthes  that  he  would  not  oppose  the  marriage,  but 
his  formal  and  full  consent  he  could  not  yet  be  per- 
suaded to  give.  Perthes  was  not  uneasy  on  this  ac- 
count, and  two  days  later,  took  his  departure  for  Leip- 
zig, with  love  and  thankfulness  in  his  heart. 

"  Know,  my  beloved  Caroline,"  he  wrote  in  his  first 
letter,  "  that  I  would  fain  do,  or  leave  undone,  every- 
thing with  sole  regard  to  you.  I  am  indeed  happy, 
and  have  never  loved  the  good  God  since  my  child- 
hood so  well  as  I  love  Him  now.  I  have,  indeed,  felt 
love  before,  but  it  was  torture  and  distraction  ;  now  it 
is  peace  and  joy,  and  I  thank  thee  for  it,  my  dearest 
Caroline.''  He  long  expected  news  from  Wandsbeck 
in  vain.  At  the  end  of  a  fortnight  came  a  letter  from 
Claudius  himself,  which  ran  thus  : 

"Dear  Mr.  Perthes, — We  are  glad  to  hear  that  you 
arrived  happily  and  safe,  and  that  you  are  well  and 
mindful  of  us.  Caroline  has  received  and  read  your 
letters  from  Brunswick  and  Leipzig,  and  thanks  you 
kindly  for  them.  She  would  answer  them  herself; 
1*^ 


THE   BETROTHAL   AND    WEDDING.  71 

but  while  the  consent  of  her  parents  is  not  formally 
given,  she  is  not  at  liberty  to  open  her  heart  fully.  It 
is  better,  therefore,  that  she  should  postpone  her  answer 
till  your  return." 

A  letter  from  Helena  Jacobi  explained  matters. 
"  Your  Caroline  said  to  her  father,  when  he  told  her 
not  to  reply  as  if  his  consent  were  already  given, — '  If 
I  may  not  write  all  that  is  in  my  heart,  I  cannot  write 
at  all ;  you  must  write  and  say  why  I  remain  silent.' 
I  pressed  your  dear  Caroline  more  closely  to  my  heart 
than  ever,"  adds  Helena,  "  on  hearing  this." 

From  Leipzig  Perthes  wrote  to  inform  his  three 
Hamburgh  friends  of  the  state  of  his  heart.  An  alli- 
ance which  drew  him  still  nearer  to  Claudius  and 
Jacobi,  could  not  be  regarded  by  them  as  a  desirable 
one  for  their  friend.  "  Why  should  the  news  of  my 
engagement  to  Caroline  have  caused  such  bitterness  in 
you  ?  Were  you  thinking  of  my  former  unhappy  love  ? 
It  will  live  as  long  as  I  live!  or,  were  you  thinking  on 
the  fleeting  and  changing  fancies  that  have  often  filled 
my  heart  ?  It  is  possible  that  these  too  may  move  me 
again  at  some  future  time.  If  thoughts  like  these 
have  suggested  your  letter,  I  cannot  blame  you.  But 
listen  to  me.  When  I  had  succeeded  in  extinguishing 
my  rejected  love,  I  was  horror-stricken  to  find  that 
such  love, — love  with  which  the  highest  aspirations  of 
my  soul  were  associated,  could  he  extinguished,  A  death- 
like coldness  took  the  place  of  the  burning  flame. 
Shall  love,  then,  whose  source  is  in  God,  and  in  all 
goodness,  be  annihilated  by  external,  adventitious  cir- 
cumstances? There  must  at  all  events  be  something 
that  is  stable.  If  it  be  not  love,  it  must  be  friendship. 
Friendship !  I  have  nothing  to  say  against  friendship 


72  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

— and  yet  shudder  to  think  that  this  is  all.  Where,  then, 
shall  I  find  deliverance  and  help  for  my  inner  being  ? 
My  soul  craves  something  that  shall  not  pass  away  ;  my 
heart  craves  one  who  shall  be  all  to  me  ;  my  spirit  de- 
sires some  abiding  good  ;  my  personality  longs  for  union 
with  some  other  being, — a  union  which  shall  endure 
even  when  the  world  is  shivered  to  atoms  ;  and  nothing 
but  love  is  greater  and  more  enduring  than  the  world. 
If  I  can  in  any  way  he  'preserved^  it  is  only  throiogh 
Caroline ;  in  her  I  find  peace  and  stability,  devotion 
and  truth.  The  passion  of  love  implanted  by  my 
former  attachment  is  latent*  within  me,  but  the'  love 
itself  is  no  longer  there.  The  passion  which  I  then 
experienced  can  exist  but  once ;  I  can  never  love 
Caroline  as  I  loved  Frederika,  but  with  her  I  can 
again  lift  my  eyes  to  God,  and  this  is  the  help  from 
above  which  my  soul  requires." 

On  the  return  of  Perthes  from  Hamburgh  at  the  end 
of  May,  Claudius  no  longer  withheld  his  formal  con- 
sent. It  was  to  the  Princess  Gallitzin  that  Caroline 
first  communicated  her  happiness.  "  To  you,  my  dear 
mother  Amelie,  I  must  myself  tell  the  news  of  my  being 
a  bride,  and  a  happy  bride.  This  would  at  one  time 
have  seemed  to  me  impossible,  even  if  you  had  assured 
me  of  it,  but  my  beloved  Perthes  has  reconciled  me  to 
the  step.  I  know  and  feel  its  importance  for  time  and 
for  eternity  ;  but  I  believe  that  I  have  taken  it  in  accord- 
ance with  the  will  of  God,  and  now  can  only  close  my 
eyes  and  entreat  God^s  blessing ;  and  you,  too,  must 
pray  for  me,  dear  Princess.  I  can  say,  in  all  truth, 
that  my  Perthes  is  a  good  man,  who  does  not  regard 
himself  as  formed,  but  who  knows  and  feels  that  he  is 
not  yet  perfect ;  and  I  think,  therefore,  that  he  and  I 


THE   BETROTHAL   AND   WEDDING.  78 

may  make  common  cause,  and,  b}^  God's  help,  make 
progress." 

Perthes  was  now  frequently  to  be  found  on  the  way 
to  Wandsbeck*  and  letters  were  almost  daily  exchanged. 
Many  of  these  have  been  preserved. 

On  the  15th  of  July,  the  betrothal,  which  in  Hol- 
stein  is  a  church-ceremony,  was  celebrated.  The  so- 
lemnity  was  graced  by  the  presence  of  the  Princess 
Gallitzin  and  her  daughter,  by  Overberg,  who  was 
tlien  on  a  visit  to  Claudius,  and,  much  to  Caroline's 
satisfaction,  by  the  Count  Frederick-Leopold  Stolberg. 

Shortly  before  the  commencement  of  the  ceremony, 
the  bride  was  reminded  by  the  pastor,  that  after  it  had 
taken  place  she  was  no  longer  free,  and  could  be  re- 
leased from  her  vows  only  by  the  Consistory.  "  It  is 
long  since  I  took  the  step,''  she  replied,  "  from  which 
I  could  be  released  neither  by  you  nor  by  the  Consis- 
tory." 

In  the  quiet  of  Caroline's  maiden-life,  the  bride-like 
love  grew  deeper  and  stronger,  and  put  even  her  tran- 
quil nature  in  commotion.  "  Caroline  would  fain  act 
the  philosophic  bride,"  writes  the  daughter  of  the  Prin- 
cess Gallitzin,  "  but  in  vain  ;  her  love  perpetually  be- 
trays itself,  and  I  believe  that  she  dreams  of  nothing 
but  the  letter  P,  and  if  for  a  moment  she  devotes  her- 
self to  me,  you  well  know  who  it  is  that  quickly  comes 
and  displaces  me." 

"  Your  brother  Hans,"  writes  Perthes  to  his  bride, 
"  brought  the  rose  safely  into  the  room,  but  then  broke 
it.  Thank  you  for  this  rose !  Hans  slanders  you. 
He  says  that  you  can  never  find  anything  you  are  looking 
for.  Even  if  you  have  this  failing  it  matters  not,  since 
once,  although  not  seeking,  you  yet  found  him  who  was 
4 


T4  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

seeking  the  good  angel  of  his  life,  and  suffered  your- 
self to  be  found  by  him." 

The  2d  of  August  was  the  day  fixed  for  the  wed- 
ding. On  the  previous  day  Perthes  received  the  last 
letter  from  Caroline  as  his  betrothed  bride.  "  I  have 
a  great  desire  for  a  little  black  cross,"  she  writes,  "and 
don't  know  how  better  to  get  it  than  through  you,  dear 
Perthes,  and  why  not  ?  I  have  been  to  the  pastor  this 
morning.  The  formula  by  which  we  are  to  be  united 
is  neither  cold  nor  warm,  neither  old  nor  new, — a 
wretched  neither  one  thing  nor  another.  But  it  will 
do  us  no  harm,  dear  Perthes  ;  we  will  ask  God  to  bless 
us  after  the  old  fashion,  and  He  will  bless  us  after  the 
old  fashion.  Do  it  with  me,  dear  Perthes,  opening 
your  arms  and  clasping  me  to  your  heart.  I  am  thine, 
body  and  soul,  and  trust  in  God  that  I  shall  find  it  to 
be  for  my  happiness." 

The  marriage  was  solemnized  on  the  following  day, 
the  2d  of  August,  1797. 

In  the  first  months  and  years  of  their  married  life,  the 
diversity  of  their  minds  and  their  habits  was  to  be 
brought  into  strong  relief.  Perthes  had  been  fitted  for 
the  sphere  in  which  he  now  moved  by  natural  charac- 
ter, by  the  circumstances  of  his  early  life,  and  by  his 
actual  position  in  Hamburgh,  by  the  variety  of  external 
relations  and  impressions,  by  the  efforts  he  had  to  make 
in  difficult  and  changing  circumstances,  but,  above  all, 
by  contact  with  men  of  the  most  opposite  opinions. 
On  the  contrary,  Caroline  had  never  come  in  contact 
with  the  noisy  outer  world,  but  had  lived  a  life  entire- 
ly from  within.  To  her  the  duty  of  man  seemed  to 
consist  in  withdrawing  as  much  as  possible  from  world- 
ly business  and  motives,  and  in  abstaining  from  all 


THE   BETROTHAL   AND   WEDDING.  75 

lively  participation  in  the  transitory.  The  first  three 
books  of  Thomas-d-Kempis,  taken  as  a  whole,  might  be 
regarded  as  reflecting  her  views  of  life.  Now  that  she 
had  left  her  father's  house,  and  experienced  on  all 
sides  an  infinite  variety  of  new  impressions,  she  could 
not  fail  to  be  disturbed  and  disquieted  under  their  in- 
fluence. 

Her  afi"ection  for  her  husband  was,  however,  strong, 
and  in  the  depths  of  her  soul  she  felt  that  her  new  po- 
sition was  one  of  happiness  and  blessing.  On  one 
occasion,  a  few  weeks  after  her  marriage,  when  her 
father  surprised  her  weeping  in  her  room,  he  exclaim- 
ed, not  without  a  measure  of  complacency, — "  Did  I 
not  tell  you  that  the  first  flush  of  happiness  would  not 
last  if  you  left  your  father  and  mother?"  "And  if  I 
am  to  pass  the  rest  of  my  life  in  weeping,"  she  instant- 
ly replied,  "  I  should  still  rejoice  that  I  am  to  spend  it 
with  my  Perthes."  But  this  confidence,  which  was  an 
essential  characteristic  of  her  nature,  could  not  over- 
come the  uneasiness  caused  by  the  frequent  disturb- 
ance and  the  many  real  or  apparent  hindrances  to 
which  the  inner  life  was  exposed  from  things  without. 
In  her  sorrow  and  perplexity  she  thus  writes  to  her 
husband  :  "  A  thousand  times  has  my  soul  spoken  out 
and  told  me,  that  I  am  no  longer  what  I  was.  For- 
merly, God  always  held  me  by  the  hand  and  led  me  in 
all  my  ways,  and  I  never  forgot  Him  ;  now  I  see  Him 
afar  off  with  an  outstretched  arm,  that  I  am  unable  to 
grasp.  This  must  not  be  always  so,  for  the  heart  could 
not  endure  such  a  prospect.  But  I  have  made  up  my 
mind  that  so  it  will  be  upon  earth  ;  and  may  God  grant 
me  the  continuance  of  this  inward  longing,  and  suffer 
me  rather  to  die  of  it,  than  to  be  content  without  it. 


76  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

There  are  moments  in  whicli  I  take  courage  again,  but 
they  do  not  last,  and  it  is  no  longer  with  me  as  it  was 
once."  In  another  letter  she  says,  "When  you  are 
away,  my  beloved  Perthes,  I  feel  quite  lonely  and  for- 
saken ;  when  you  are  not  at  my  side  to  support  me,  I 
am  a  picture  of  grief.  Is  this  to  continue — ought  it 
to  be  so  ?     It  was  otherwise  once." 

The  letters  written  by  Perthes,  during  short  absences 
at  Leipzig,  Holstein,  and  Westphalia,  show,  that  while 
he  took  pleasure  in  the  exercise  of  his  powers  in  pub- 
lic life,  he  knew  how  to  appreciate  the  value  of  a  life 
which  looked  within  rather  tlian  without. 

"  Believe  me,"  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  in  the  summer 
of  1709,  "  believe  me,  my  good  angel,  when  I  tell  you, 
that  you  have  much  spiritual  life  ;  do  not  then  disquiet 
yourself.  Our  father  acted  wisely  in  keeping  his  chil- 
dren from  active  life  and  an  artificial  existence.  Even 
if  he  had  carried  this  too  far,  if  he  had  rendered  you 
unfit  for  the  business  of  life,  so  that  to  vou  the  whole 
world  were  foolishness,  still  you  would  have  had  the 
spirit  of  love,  and  the  spirit  of  love  is  all  in  all." 

The  respect  in  which  Perthes  held  the  rights  of  in- 
dividuality would  have  withheld  him  from  any  attempt 
to  force  his  own  mode  of  life  upon  Caroline,  even  if 
her  character  and  her  manner  of  looking  upon  life  had 
not  claimed  respect  from  their  own  inherent  merits. 
"  To  force  upon  one  mind  the  opinions  of  another  ;  to 
graft  the  fruit  of  our  own  tree  upon  another  stem,  is 
sin,"  wrote  Perthes  to  a  friend.  Besides,  he  clearly 
perceived  that  any  such  attempt  upon  Caroline's  mind 
would  be  futile.  "My  Caroline,"  he  wrote  to  his 
Schwartzburg  uncle,  "makes  me  unspeakably  happy. 
She  is  a  pious,  faithful,  true-hearted,  and  submissive 


THE   BETROTHAL   AND    WEDDING.  77 

creature  ;  but  her  inward  course  she  shapes  for  her- 
self, and  pursues  it  with  a  steady  step." 

As  steadily  did  Perthes  himself  tread  the  path  that 
seemed  marked  out  as  his.  In  1798  he  says  to  his 
wife,  "  I  am  more  than  ever  persuaded  that  my  destiny 
is  an  active,  masculine  career  ;  that  I  am  a  man  born 
to  turn  my  own  wheel  and  that  of  others  with  energy." 
He  was  not  diverted  from  his  course  by  the  difference 
between  his  wife  and  himself. 

"  Can  you  then,  indeed,  believe,"  he  wrote  in  1799, 
"  that  my  restless  labors,  my  activity  and  energy,  can 
be  detrimental  to  you  ?  To  you,  Caroline !  You 
should  rather  thank  God  that  he  has  enabled  me  to 
take  pleasure  in  things  that  might  have  been  a  weari- 
ness and  a  burden  to  me.  How  otherwise  could  I  wish 
to  exist  ?  Dear  Caroline,  I  am  not  always  so  good  as 
you  think  me,  but  in  this  respect  I  am  better  than  you 
think  me." 

Doubts,  indeed,  would  occasionally  arise  as  to  the 
distracting  and  hurtful  influence  of  his  mode  of  life 
upon  Caroline.  "You  have  to  fight  against  many 
failings  in  me,"  he  writes.  "  I  have  asked  myself  what 
I  would  do,  if  it  depended  on  me  to  remove  you  to  a 
situation  in  every  respect  congenial  to  your  tastes — 
whether  to  a  convent  or  into  the  hands  of  a  man  who 
not  only  loved  you  as  I  love  you,  but  whose  disposition 
and  liabits  entirely  coincided  with  your  own.  No, 
dearest  Caroline,  I  could  not  do  it.  You  must  live 
with  me,  or  not  live  at  all ;  and,  dearest  wife,  I  know 
that  in  this  you  feel  as  I  do." 

That  Caroline's  dislike  to  all  contact  with  the  world, 
and  her  extreme  susceptibility  under  the  disturbing 
circumstances  of  her  new  position,  were  sanctioned  by 


78  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

the  claims  of  the  inner  life,  Perthes  did  not  for  a  mo- 
ment believe.  He  was  of  opinion  that  a  character 
like  hers  ought  to  show  itself  as  an  example  in  the 
world. 

"  Believe  me,"  he  writes,  "  I  understand  you  and  your 
present  feelings  thoroughly.  While  you  lived  in  your 
father^s  house,  you  maintained,  it  is  true,  a  constant 
walk  with  God.  You  had  but  one  thought  and  but 
one  path.  But  then  your  walk  with  God  was  the  walk 
of  a  child,  who  knew  sin  and  the  world,  and  life,  not 
at  all,  or  only  by  name ;  still  there  was  a  unity  in  your 
existence.  Now,  simply  because  you  are  in  the  world, 
this  condition  must  be  disturbed.  I  have  torn  you 
from  that  childlike  life,  and  brought  you  into  the 
bustle  of  the  world  ;  you  recognized  in  me  an  honest 
heart,  full  of  love  for  you,  but  you  have  also  seen  in 
me,  and  through  me,  and  in  yourself,  the  sin  of  man- 
kind. For  a  while,  but  it  was  not  long,  your  love  for 
me  concealed  all  this.  Now  you  can  no  longer  walk 
so  confidingly  as  formerly  with  the  Unseen,  and  He  no 
longer  speaks  to  you  as  before.  You  are  perplexed, 
and  would  gladly  regain  the  purity  and  simplicity  of 
the  child,  and  are  unable  to  bring  order  and  unity  into 
your  thoughts.  My  dear  Caroline,  the  want  which  you 
feel  is  entirely  the  offspring  of  your  own  imagination. 
You  have,  pious  child,  ardent  faith  in  your  heart,  and 
in  your  mind  entire  subjection  to  the  liigher  decrees  of 
conscience  :  but  where  others  would  be  contented  and 
at  peace,  you  are  full  of  care  and  anxiety,  because  you 
would  fain  lead  again  the  undisturbed  and  simple  life 
of  childhood,  and  cannot.  Here,  on  earth,  man  has  but 
a  changing  and  unsettled  existence ;  he  does  not  all 
live  in  any  single  moment,  but  only  a  part  of  himself. 


THE   BETROTHAL    AND    WEDDING.  79 

The  only  things  of  value  are  love  and  truth,  but  would 
you,  therefore,  disregard  all  besides  ?  Would  you  live 
apart  from  everything  ?  But  even  if  you  were  to  with- 
draw to  some  retirement  where  no  sorrow,  no  disquiet, 
could  reach  you,  you  would  become  cold  because  you 
love  only  the  Highest  and  no  other  object,  and  cold- 
ness is  always  a  horrible  thing.  No,  we  are  not  to 
drift  away  from  the  world  ;  God  demands-not  the 
sacrifice  of  natural  ties,  but  the  submission  of  our  will 
to  His.  The  sorrow  and  annoyances  which  may  be 
our  lot  in  the  world  where  He  has  placed  us,  we  should 
bear  with  inward  tranquillity  rather  than  seek  to  es- 
cape from  them." 

"  Caroline  does  not  find  life  easy,"  said  Perthes  to  a 
friend  ;  "  in  spite  of  her  calm  temper,  and  her  rich  and 
lively  fancy,  she  feels  it  hard  to  have  to  do  with  the 
ever-changing  and  finite  things  of  the  world  and  of 
time.  And  yet,  when  I  see  her  holding  fast  by  her  in- 
ward life,  in  spite  of  the  annoyances  which  the  tumult 
and  distractions  of  her  daily  existence  too  often  cause 
her,  and  also  fulfilling  the  outward  duties  of  her  position 
in  a  manner  so  self-denying,  kind  and  noble,  she  imparts 
strength  to  me,  and  becomes  truly  my  guiding  angel." 

"  Two  creatures  more  different  than  Caroline  and 
myself,  in  culture  and  tendency,  it  would  have  been 
hard  to  find,"  said  Perthes  later  ;  and  yet,  in  the  first 
hour  of  our  acquaintance,  Caroline  recognized  what 
of  worth  there  was  in  me,  and  loved  me  ;  and  in  spite 
of  all  that  she  subsequently  discovered  in  my  charac- 
ter, that  was  opposed  to  her  own  modes  of  thought 
and  life,  her  confidence  has  remained  unshaken  and 
unalterable.  I,  on  my  part,  soon  perceived  her  love, 
and  at  once  appreliended  the  true  and  noble  nature, 


80  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

the  lofty  spirit,  the  life-heroism,  the  tumility  of  heart, 
and  the  pure  piety  which  now  constitute  the  happiness 
and  blessing  of  my  life." 

If  Perthes  and  Caroline  had  not  met  till  later  in  life, 
they  would  probably  have  repelled  each  other ;  but  now 
the  fusion  of  two  characters  so  diverse  was  facilitated 
by  the  passionate  ardor  of  youthful  affection, — an 
ardor  which  long  survived  their  marriage. 

Many  of  the  letters  written  by  Perthes  at  this  time 
have  been  preserved.  They  are  often  full  of  tender 
playfulness ;  frequently,  too,  we  find  in  them  the  ex- 
pression of  fervid  passion,  and  of  deep  reverence  for 
that  spiritual  life  of  Caroline,  still  unattained  by  him- 
self. 

In  a  letter  written  in  the  third  year  of  his  marriage, 
during  her  absence  for  a  few  weeks,  he  says :  "  During 
my  bachelor  life,  when  one  affection  used  to  give  place 
to  another,  when  I  loved  Frederika,  when  I  first  knew 
you,  my  only  aim  was  to  conquer,  to  please  ;  I  sought 
only  myself — was  always  /.  But  now  in  you  I  have 
lost  myself — without  you,  I  am  nothing — I  have  noth- 
ing— am  to  myself  nothing." 

"  You,  yes  you,  my  ever-youthful  love,  have  given 
me  a  new  life,"  he  writes  on  the  following  day  ; 
"  through  you  I  am  born  again.  While  you  are  absent, 
all  around  me  is  cold  and  uninteresting  ;  you  alone 
give  tone  and  coloring  to  everything.  I  did  not  know 
that  my  heart  had  retained  such  feelings ;  I  had 
thought  that  the  first  love  had  passed  away  ;  but  no  ! 
ever  since  you  were  mine,  the  first  love  is  the  first  and 
the  never-ending  love.  Where  can  it  cease  ?  Love, ' 
ever-strengthening  love  !  every  morning  I  rise  to  new 
love,  and  every  evening  I  repose  on  thy  heart.     Ah !  I 


THE   BETROTHAL    AND    WEDDING.  81 

can  well  understand  now,  how  one  may  be  cold  and 
desolate,  while  yet,  in  the  stillness,  the  heart  is  beating 
warmly." 

"  Dear  child  !  dear  Caroline  !  "  he  says  in  another 
letter,  "  I  am  exactly  like  our  Bishop  Kaspar  ;  I  would, 
without  interruption,  cry,  Love,  love,  nothing  but  love  I 
When  I  rise  in  the  morning,  I  ask — Why  should  I  ? 
my  Caroline  is  not  here.  When  I  am  at  work,  I  am 
thinking  only  of  my  return  to  you  ;  and,  alas !  you  are 
not  here,  and  I  have  no  home,  no  place  of  rest.  If  at 
evening  I  have  done  the  day's  work,  and  would  assume 
a  happy  face — ah  !  for  whom  ?  my  heart  is  not  here. 
If  you  were  to  leave  me,  my  angel,  to  leave  me  en- 
tirely, the  good  spirit  would  go  with  you.  I  believe, 
indeed,  that  I  should  love  again,  but  how  ?  " 

Again  he  writes  :  "  You  fancy  that  I  am  jealous  of 
our  little  daughter,  because  I  would  share  your  love  as 
well  as  she  ;  ah  !  I  could  wish  you  had  twelve  strong 
and  healthy  children,  to  be  your  joy  ;  for  you  would 
have  to  thank  me  for  all  the  twelve,  my  noble,  excel- 
lent wife  ! "  Caroline's  return  from  a  short  excursion 
having  been  unexpectedly  delayed  for  some  days, 
Perthes  wrote  that  the  days  passed  as  though  a  thou- 
sand pounds'  weight  were  hung  upon  each  : — 

Just  as  the  traveller's  aching  sight 

Explores  in  vain  the  morning  sky, 
Where,  hidden  in  a  flood  of  light, 

'J  he  soaring  lark  sings  joyously  : 
So  glance  I  anxious  to  and  fro, 

Through  wood  and  field,  o'er  hill  and  plain, 
My  songs  one  only  burden  know, 

0  come,  beloved,  to  me  again  1  '^ 

4* 


VIII. 

'HE  partnership  into  which  Perthes  had  en- 
tered in  1796,  was  only  provisional,  and  its 
continuance  was  contingent  on  the  success 
which  attended  the  undertaking.  The  returns 
during  the  first  two  years  were  so  trifling  as 
to  cause  a  dissolution  of  the  partnership  in 
December,  1798.  Perthes,  when  left  alone, 
found  himself  in  a  position  of  considerable  difficulty  ; 
but,  relying  upon  the  attention  which  his  mode  of  con- 
ducting business  had  already  attracted  among  the 
literary  circles  of  Hamburgh,  Westphalia,  Hanover, 
Holstein,  and  Mecklenburg,  he  did  not  lose  hope  of 
ultimate  success. 

Nothing,  however,  could  be  done  without  additional 
capital.  The  confidence  which  he  inspired  was  such 
as  soon  to  put  30,000  dollars  at  his  disposal,  and,  so 
supported,  he  was  enabled  to  weather  the  great  com- 
mercial and  monetary  crisis  of  1799. 

From  the  nature  of  the  business,  Perthes  had  escaped 
the  immediate  influence  of  this  wide-sweeping  calamity, 
but  indirectly  he  felt  severely  the  general  scarcity  of 
money.  By  the  help  of  his  own  energy  and  prudence, 
and  the  friendly  assistance  of  his  three  Hamburgh 
friends,  he  not  only  stood  firm  at  this  great  crisis,  but 
was  enabled  to  extend  his  business  considerably,  and 

(82) 


THE   BUSINESS   AND   THE   FAMILY.  83 

amid  the  universal  ruin,  it  acquired  a  name  and  re- 
ceived an  impulse.  He  far  overstepped,  however,  the 
means  which  he  had  in  hand,  and  this  prepared  for  him 
much  anxiety  and  many  painful  perplexities. 

"  My  engagements,"  wrote  Perthes  in  1799,  "  are 
now  so  manifold,  that  all  my  time  and  all  my  strength 
are  required  for  the  superintendence.  What  men  com- 
monly call  good  fortune,  I  may  be  said  to  possess,  for 
success  attends  all  my  undertakings  ;  but  this  good 
fortune  has  been  anything  but  easily  won,  and  when  I 
weigh  the  hours  of  ease  and  tranquillity  against  the 
hours  of  labor  and  anxiety,  the  latter  have  an  over- 
whelming preponderance.  You  know  me  well,  and 
know  what  it  has  cost  me  hitherto  to  ask,  to  entreat, 
to  put  on  a  bold  face  ;  you  know  how  difl&cult  it  has 
always  been  for  me  to  seem  harsh,  stern,  inflexible ; 
and  all  this  I  have  been  obliged  to  be,  or  to  appear. 
God,  indeed,  has  come  to  my  help,  'when  most  I  re- 
quired His  aid.  Good  fortune,  and  that  activity  and 
energy  which  are  called  forth  only  by  enterprise,  never 
fail  me." 

Perthes  had  a  lofty  aim  in  the  business  which  he 
had  founded.  Hamburgh,  Holstein,  and  Mecklen- 
burg were  to  be  only  the  basis  of  his  operations,  from 
which  it  was  to  attain  a  position  which  would  consti- 
tute it  the  medium  of  literary  intercourse  for  all 
European  nations,  and  would  render  accessible  to  each 
people  the  literature  of  every  other.  Hamburgh 
seemed  to  be  the  right  place  for  a  business  so  extensive 
in  its  relations  :  a  branch  was  to  be  established  in 
London  as  a  support.  But  Perthes  had  not  resources 
for  carrying  out  so  great  a  plan  without  assistance. 
He  felt  keenly  the  want  of  the  necessary  information, 


84  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

and  more  keenly  still  the  inadequacy  of  his  educa- 
tion— a  want  not  then  to  be  supplied.  He  looked 
around  for  help,  and  found  it  in  John  Henry  Besser, 
who,  from  this  period,  may  be  regarded,  both  in  joy 
and  in  sorrow,  as  his  truest  and  most  confidential 
friend,  and  who  shortly  became  by  marriage  with  his 
sister,  a  near  and  much-loved  connexion. 

Besser  was  one  of  those  happy  persons  who  are 
liked  as  soon  as  seen,  whose  society  is  sought  by  all, 
and  with  whom  every  one  feels  happy.  His  exterior 
was  prepossessing,  and  as  a  young  man  he  had  been 
distinguished  for  his  handsome  figure  ;  his  loving  and 
love-desiring  heart  shone  in  his  friendly  eye,  and  gave 
expression  to  his  delicate  features.  He  had  an  instinc- 
tive perception  of  the  wishes  and  wants  of  others,  and 
without  information  or  inquiry,  he  was  ever  ready  to 
help  to  the  utmost  of  his  power.  The  favors  of  all 
kinds  that  he  had  conferred  were  innumerable.  He 
attracted  children  as  the  magnet  attracts  iron,  and 
could  scarcely  defend  himself  from  their  demonstra- 
tions of  aJQTection.  Always,  and  in  all  circumstances, 
he  acted  with  the  purest  integrity  without  the  ^slightest 
effort,  and  without  requiring  to  will  to  do  so  :  that  a 
man  should  speak  contrary  to  his  convictions  seemed  to 
him  impossible.  During  the  occupation  of  Hamburgh 
by  the  French,  he  would,  with  alarming  naivete,  tell 
the  plainest  truths  to  the  officers  and  functionaries,  and 
yet,  strange  to  say,  he  enjoyed  their  confidence.  His 
many  little  peculiarities,  his  absence  of  mind,  his  habit 
of  devolving  on  the  morrow  the  business  of  to-day, 
often  occasioned  the  most  extraordinary  incidents  ; 
but  these  peculiarities  were  regarded  by  his  friends  as 
component  parts  of  a  character  of  such  rare  ami  a- 


THE   BUSINESS   AND   THE   FAMILY.  85 

bility,  that  they  would  not  williDgly  have  missed 
them. 

Besser  was  born  in  1775.  His  father  was  chief  pas- 
tor at  Quedlinburg,  and  had  sent  his  son,  well  instruct- 
ed in  the  modern  languages,  to  Hamburgh,  to  learn 
the  business  of  a  bookseller.  Here  he  so  early  won 
the  confidence  of  his  master  Bohn,  that,  at  the  end  of 
three  years,  he  was  sent  to  Kiel  to  take  the  sole  charge 
of  a  branch-business  in  that  town.  Perthes,  who  had 
seen  Besser  in  passing  through  Leipzig,  was  drawn  in- 
to his  society  soon  after  he  came  to  Hamburgh,  and 
each  recognized  in  the  other  a  turn  of  mind  which  led 
to  a  strong  mutual  attachment.  In  1797,  Besser  went 
to  pursue  his  literary  education  in  Gottingen.  There 
he  made  good  use  of  his  opportunities,  and  attended 
lectures  on  the  history  of  literature.  On  liis  return,  in 
1798,  he  entered  into  partnership  with  Perthes ;  and 
althougli  the  business  was  still  carried  on  in  the  sole 
name  of  the  latter,  the  services  of  Besser  became  hence- 
forward indispensable. 

*'  It  would  be  hard  to  find  in  any  individual  book- 
seller," said  Perthes,  at  a  later  period,  "  so  extensive  a 
knowledge  as  Besser  possesses,  of  the  most  celebrated 
books  in  all  languages,  their  character  and  value  ;  and 
there  is  no  one  who  knows,  so  well  as  he  does,  where 
to  find,  and  how  to  procure  them." 

Besser,  moreover,  in  spite  of  the  gentleness  of  his 
disposition,  maintained  a  calmness  and  presence  of 
mind  under  harassing  and  complicated  circumstances, 
which,  united  with  the  vigorous  mind  and  active  in- 
vincible spirit  of  Perthes,  carried  the  business  through 
great  difficulties  to  a  position  of  consideration  and  in- 
fluence.   The  plan  of  making  it  the  medium  of  the 


86  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

literary  intercourse  of  the  various  European  nations, 
was  necessarily,  in  a  great  measure,  abandoned,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  troubles  and  losses  of  the  year  1806. 
Till  then,  it  was  steadily  kept  in  view,  and  in  the 
German  book-trade,  Perthes  and  Besser  took  an  estab- 
lished and  influential  position.  Even  so  early  as  1802 
Perthes  could  write  from  Leipzig, — "  I  do  not  think 
that  any  of  our  brethren  in  the  trade  have  met  with 
such  distinguished  kindness  as  I  have ;  every  one  is 
ready  to  take  trouble  for  me." 

So  great  was  the  confidence  inspired  by  Perthes,  that 
numerous  families  in  the  north-west  of  Germany  era- 
ployed  him  to  select  periodically  the  works  which  he 
thought  best  suited  to  their  respective  characters  and 
tastes — a  duty  which  he  performed  with  equal  consci- 
entiousness and  success.  It  was  impossible  for  Perthes, 
in  his  relations  as  a  man  with  men,  to  be  actuated  by 
any  mercenary  considerations. 

"  I  can  forgive  everything  but  selfishness,"  he  once 
wrote  ;  and  in  more  advanced  life  nothing  made  him  so 
indignant  as  petty  narrow-mindedness  in  money  mat- 
ters. "  Even  the  narrowest  circumstances,"  he  said, 
"  admit  of  greatness  with  reference  to  mine  and  thine  ; 
and  none  but  the  very  poorest  need  fill  their  daily  life 
with  thoughts  of  money,  if  they  have  but  prudence 
enough  to  arrange  their  housekeeping  within  the  limits 
of  their  income."  In  accordance  with  these  opinions, 
Perthes,  in  time  of  pressure  could  accept  freely  from  his 
literary  friends  the  assistance  they  freely  olQfered.  Many 
of  those  who  subsequently  became  his  most  intimate 
friends  were  originally  only  connected  with  him  by  the 
ties  of  business  ;  while  his  extensive  literary  acquaint- 
ance was  of  considerable  advantage  to  his  interests. 


THE   BUSINESS   AND    THE   FAMILY.  87 

But  notwithstanding  the  flourishing  aspect  of  affairs, 
he  was  very  far  indeed  from  being  free  from  great 
and  continual  anxiety,  and  frequent  anticipations  of 
pecuniary  embarrassment.  The  business  meanwhile 
continued  steadily  to  increase.  "  I  am  still/'  he  writes 
in  1805,  "  in  occasional  straits  for  money,  but  yet  in  a 
sure  way  of  becoming  rich.  I  desire  fortune  only  as  a 
means  of  freedom  and  for  the  general  good.  God 
grant  that  I  may  one  day  be  in  a  position  to  work  with 
a  more  tranquil  mind  !" 

It  w^as  with  the  warmest  gratitude  that  Perthes  ac- 
knowledged the  blessings  that  had  attended  him  in  his 
calling.  "  A  week  ago,"  he  writes,  "  I  entered  on  the 
tenth  anniversary  of  my  establishment  in  business  ;  how 
thankful  should  I  be  !  For  if  the  enterprise  of  1796 
had  not  succeeded,  I  should  not  now  possess  my  dearest 
Caroline,  nor  my  faithful  partner  Besser,  nor  my 
friends,  nor  my  present  wide  and  glorious  sphere  of 
action.  I  feel  that  I  have  found  myself  through  my 
calling  ;  for,  owing  to  my  previous  negligence,  this  was 
the  only  way  in  which  my  powers  were  susceptible  of 
development." 

His  family  circle  afforded  a  resting-place  from  the 
ceaseless  turmoil  and  anxious  cares  of  business,  and 
maintained  in  him  that  cheerfulness  and  vigor  neces- 
sary for  the  proper  discharge  of  his  daily  duties. 
*'  You  have  penetrated  into  the  profoundest  recesses 
of  my  being,"  he  writes  to  his  wife  ;  "  there  is  no  mo- 
ment of  my  existence  in  which  you  are  not  with  me,  in 
me,  and  before  me  ;  and  all  I  see,  feel,  and  observe,  I 
seem  to  see,  feel,  and  observe  only  for  your  sake." 

On  the  28th  of  May,  1798,  his  daughter  Agnes  was 
born  ;  on  the  16th  January,  1800,  a  son,  Matthias  ; 


'88  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

on  the  lOtli  of  January,  1802,  a  daughter,  Louisa  ; 
and  on  the  25th  of  February,  1804,  another  daughter, 
Matilda.  Joys  and  troubles,  whicli  are  found  in  every 
family,  become,  wherever  there  are  cliiidren,  a  means 
of  education  to  the  parents.  One  may  indeed  be  in- 
duced by  the  love  of  God  to  withdraw  from  the  exter- 
nal w^orld,  in  order  to  give  himself  exclusively  and 
without  distraction  to  the  cultivation  of  the  spiritual 
nature  ;  but  the  love  of  a  mother  for  her  children  is, 
in  its  very  nature,  the  closest  of  all  links  to  outward 
and  practical  life,  a  direct  and  continual  doing  and 
caring,  which  leaves  no  time  for  a  life  of  contempla- 
tion. Caroline's  maternal  love  was  the  school  in 
which  she  first  learned  wisely  and  vigorously  to  give 
to  the  hidden  "  man  within  the  heart"  an  outward  di- 
rection. Increasing  household  cares,  the  influence  of 
her  husband,  and  varied  intercourse  with  men  of  the 
most  opposite  characters,  further  tended  to  bring  out 
her  capabilities,  and  to  make  her  move  freely  in  the 
world,  so  that  amid  the  variety  of  external  circum- 
stances she  was  able  to  preserve  an  inward  calm  and 
self-control.  She  retained  indeed  to  the  end  of  her 
days  a  desire  after  a  life  of  unruffled  tranquillity, — a 
longing  which  would  occasionally  dispose  her  to  mel- 
ancholy. 

"  It  is  still  the  old  story  with  me,"  she  writes  to  the 
Countess  Sophie  Stolberg  ;  "  I  desire  much,  and  can  do 
but  very  little  ;"  and  again  to  her  husband,  in  the  spring 
of  1804  on  the  day  after  his  departure  on  a  journey, 
"  Agnes  sends  you  word,  she  hopes  you  will  cross  the 
water  safely,  and  is  anxious — my  daughter  ;  Matthias 
only  desires  to  know  how  his  rocking-horse  is,  and  is 
happy — thy   son."      Notwithstanding   the    continued 


THE    BUSINESS    AND   THE   FAMILY.  89 

longing  for  a  life  of  outward  repose,  she  had  in  the 
first  ten  years  of  her  marriage  attained  to  a  measure 
of  freedom,  self  command,  and  tranquillit}^,  whicii,  when 
she  was  subsequently  threatened  witli  the  loss  of  prop- 
erty, family,  and  all  external  happiness,  she  maintained 
with  true  womanly  heroism. 

She  was  now  no  longer  disquieted,  as  she  had  often 
been  at  first,  by  the  influence  of  her  husband's  position 
and  mode  of  life.  "  I  have  just  looked  out  into  the 
night,  and  thought  of  thee,"  she  once  wrote  to  the  ab- 
sent Perthes.  "  It  is  a  glorious  night,  and  the  stars 
are  glittering  above  me,  and  if  in  thy  carriage  one  ap- 
pears to  thee  brighter  than  the  rest,  think  that  it  show- 
ers down  upon  thee  4ove  and  kindness  from  me,  and  no 
sadness  ;  for  I  am  not  now  unhappy  when  you  are  ab- 
sent. Yet  am  I  certain  that  this  does  not  proceed 
from  any  diminution  of  affection.  If  I  could  only 
show  how  I  feel  towards  you,  it  would  give  you  joy  ; 
after  all  I  may  say  or  write,  it  is  still  unexpressed,  and 
far  short  of  the  living  love  which  I  carry  in  my  heart. 
If  you  could  but  apprehend  me  without  words,  you 
would  understand  me  better." 

"  AVhat  you  have  now,"  wrote  Caroline,  in  1803,  to 
a  newly-married  friend,  "  is  only  a  foretaste,  and  will 
every  day  increase.  At  least,  the  merciful  God  has  so 
ordered  it  for  me  these  six  years,  and  my  eyes  overflow 
as  I  think  of  it." 

"  My  beloved  Perthes,"  she  writes  a  year  later,  on 
the  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  he  had  declared 
his  attachment,  "  this  is  the  30th  of  April,  and  it  is 
just  nine  o'clock.  Do  you  remember  this  very  mo- 
ment this  day  seven  years  ?  I  thank  God  from  the 
bottom  of  my  heart  for  having  made  you  think  of  me. 


90  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

I  have  just  come  from  looking  at  the  children,  who  are 
already  in  bed,  and  while  I  gazed  on  them  I  had  you 
in  my  heart ;  thus,  although  you  are  so  far  away,  we  are 
still  united.  I  bless  the  happy  moment  in  which  sev- 
en years  ago  you  looked  on  me,  and  said  '  I  love  you.' 
Yes,  my  ever-beloved  Perthes,  I  thank  God,  and  I 
thank  you,  for  our  happiness.  May  God  continue  to 
be  with  us  and  with  our  children,  and  preserve  us  to 
a  peaceful  and  blessed  end." 


IX 


J^milg  ^xuuU. 


HE  affection  and  ardor  with  which  Perthes 
followed  his  calling,  and  the  moral  strength 
which  he  drew  from  his  domestic  life,  enabled 
him  to  escape  becoming  the  victim  of  vacil- 
lating indecision  or  of  confused  fancies — a  dan- 
ger to  which  his  intercourse  with  men  of 
such  diverse  and  influential  characters  pecu- 
liarly exposed  him.  Next  to  his  own,  the  house  of  his 
father-in-law  was  that  which  possessed  the  greatest 
attractions  for  him.  "  I  have  confidence  in  every  one 
who  esteems  your  father,"  wrote  Perthes,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1797,  to  his  bride  ;  and  in  a  letter  dated  in  1802, 
he  says,  "  There  is  no  one  on  earth  that  I  think  more 
highly  of  than  our  father.  May  God  long  preserve  to 
us  the  noble,  beloved  man !"  The  uninterrupted  and 
ever-increasing  influence  of  Claudius  was  strengthened 
by  many  kindred  impressions. 

Perthes  was  a  frequent  and  willing  visitor  at  Klop- 
stock's  house,  till  his  death  in  1803.  "  The  repose  of 
death  was  greatly  to  be  desired  for  Klopstock,"  wrote 
Perthes,  shortly  after  his  decease.  "  He  said  to  me 
three  weeks  before  he  died,  '  I  prefer  a  state  of  pain 
to  any  other — all  else  is  but  torpor.^  He  died  as  he 
had  lived,  peacefully,  simply,  and  with  composure. 
No  one,  not  even  his  brother,  saw  him  during  the  last 

(91) 


92  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

fortnight.  Only  his  wife,  Meta,  and  the  physicians, 
were  with  him.  His  wife  seems  to  have  entertained 
mistaken  ideas  of  upholding  Klopstock's  greatness, 
even  in  liis  last  hours.  I  am  sorry  for  this  ;  every- 
body knows  that  people  do  not  die  artistically.  His 
funeral  procession  showed  the  respect  in  which  the 
people  of  Altona  and  Hamburgh  held  their  fellow-cit- 
izen. As  the  body  was  borne  from  the  church  to  the 
grave,  a  chorus  of  young  girls  sang,  '  To  rise  again, 
yes,  to  rise  again  !'  It  was  a  moment  of  general  emo- 
tion ;  but,  even  in  death,  Klopstock  had  to  do  penance 
for  his  toleration  of  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  of  his 
own  insipid  and  shallow  disciples,  for  N.  delivered  an 
oration  over  him." 

In  Hamburgh,  Perthes  still  kept  up  his  former  inti- 
macy witli  the  Sieveking  circle,  and  lived  in  free  and 
familiar  intercourse  with  his  old  friends,  Runge,  Speck- 
ter,  Hiilsenbeck,  and  Herterich  ;  but  it  was  from  Hol- 
stein  that  the  deepest  and  most  abiding  impressions 
were  now  received. 

The  Countess  Julia  Reventlow  of  Emkendorf  contin- 
ued till  her  death  to  be  the  warm  friend  of  Caroline  ; 
and  the  unpretending  sprightliness  and  gentleness  of 
her  disposition,  which  revealed  itself  even  in  lier  cor- 
respondence, made  others  more  open  to  the  influence 
of  her  opinions.  Her  husband's  brother,  Count  Caius 
Reventlow  of  Altenhof,  won  the  confidence  of  all  who 
approached  him  by  his  genuine  earnestness,  and  by  his 
spirited  and  liearty  manliness  of  character.  Attracted 
by  the  goodness  and  candor  of  Perthes,  the  Count  be- 
came his  faithful  friend  in  word  and  deed,  notwith- 
standing the  difference  of  age  and  position.  "The 
Count  was  the  last  of  the  high-minded  nobles  of  a 


I^AMILY   FRIENDS.  93 

bygone  time,"  wrote  Perthes  to  the  widowed  Countess 
Louisa,  in  1804,  shortly  after  her  husband's  death, 
"  and  a  nobler  than  he  our  fatheriand  never  possessed. 
He  was  a  good  friend  and  a  benefactor  to  me  at  the 
period  of  my  greatest  need  ;  and  there  are  many  who 
will  think  of  him  with  love  and  regret  as  I  do  now." 
At  Altenhof,  Caroline  and  Perthes  had  become  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  Countess  Augusta,  (born 
Stolberg,)  who,  as  second  wife  of  Count  Andreas 
Petrus  Bernstorff  was  the  stepmother  of  the  Countess 
Louisa.  Many  might  have  overlooked  the  gentle, 
pious  woman  without  suspecting  the  treasure  which  lay 
concealed  in  her  heart,  but  Goethe  showed  his  wonder- 
ful power  of  discerning  mental  endowment  in  the  well- 
known  inscription  to  this  unseen  friend  of  his  youth. 
To  Perthes  the  Countess  was  wont  frequently  to  refer, 
in  letters  full  of  intelligence  and  affection,  and  she 
always  found  in  him  a  trustworthy  friend.  On  his 
final  departure  from  Hamburgh,  she  wrote,  "  Your  life 
has  taken  such  deep  hold  of  mine,  so  intimately  is  it 
connected  with  many  of  the  earlier  and  later  associa- 
tions of  my  heart,  that  your  departure  makes  me  very 
sorrowful.     Forget  me  not." 

Manifold  were  the  impressions  which  Perthes  was 
to  receive  from  Holstein.  His  intimacy  with  the  pious 
and  venerable  Kleuker  introduced  him  to  a  more  ex- 
tensive acquaintance  with  theological  questions,  while 
the  friendship  of  Reinhold  exhibited  to  him  the  mental 
confusion  engendered  by  the  mutual  repulsion  of  philo- 
sophical and  theological  views. 

"  Reinhold  has  received  m,e  in  his  old  fashion,  and 
with  his  accustomed  kindness,"  wrote  Perthes  to  his 
wife  in  1799,  "  and  has  given  up  his  own  room  to  me. 


94  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

He  wins  upon  me  as  a  man,  the  longer  I  know  him  ; 
but  his  monotonous  many-sidedness  obstructs  him  in 
his  progress  towards  truth.  He  pushes  back  the  cur- 
tain little  by  little,  but  he  cannot  draw  it  up.  It  will 
be  difficult  to  break  down  the  partition-wall  that  sep- 
arates him  from  Kleuker,  because  neither  will  allow 
the  two  points  on  which  the  wall  of  partition  rests, 
and  on  which  all  depends,  to  be  touched  ;  while,  by 
their  mutual  sarcasms,  they  continually  provoke  each 
other." 

Jacobi's  influence  with  Perthes  was  also  an  abiding 
one,  and  he  was  ever  ready  to  converse  with  his  young 
friend  on  the  works  in  which  he  was  engaged.  "  Yes- 
terday, Jacobi  gave  me  his  new  MS.  treatise  to  read," 
writes  Perthes  to  Caroline,  from  Eutin,  in  1801  ;  "  it 
was  hard  work.  I  labored  at  it  the  whole  of  yester- 
day, and  the  *  tall  papa'  said  admirable  things  apropos 
of  it  ;  to-day  I  have  studied  it  again  with  him  in  right 
earnest."  In  all  his  visits  to  Holstein,  whether  long 
or  short,  Perthes  felt  himself  improved  and  elevated 
by  the  influence  of  the  country  and  the  people.  He 
says  to  Caroline,  "  I  was  at  Sielbeck  with  Nicolovius  ; 
the  day  was  glorious.  Nicolovius  is  a  charming  man. 
I  felt  so  youthful,  and  so  rich,  and  so  thankful  to  God  : 
He  has  bestowed  on  me  so  many  gifts  I  such  a  long 
and  happy  youth,  and  you,  my  love!" 

With  Catholic  Miinster,  Perthes  was  no  less  closely 
connected  than  with  Protestant  Holstein.  It  was  in 
the  winter  of  1798  that  he  had  first  become  personally 
acquainted  with  it,  and  on  his  journey  thither  he  was 
greatly  impressed  by  the  grand  aspect  of  the  lofty  oak 
forests  and  deep  valleys  of  Westphalia,  or  more  prop- 
erly of  Osnaburg.     This  short  and  hurried  .visit  to 


FAMILY   FRIENDS.  95 

Miinster  was  sufficient  to  give  him  an  idea  of  the  life 
with  which,  from  other  causes,  he  was  afterwards  to 
be  so  intimately  associated. 

The  Princess  Gallitzin,  till  her  death,  kept  up  her 
correspondence  with  Caroline  ;  and,  notwithstanding 
the  difference  of  creed,  stood  godmother  to  Perthes' 
eldest  s6n,  Klopstock  and  Claudius  being  godfathers. 
Caroline,  on  her  part,  preserved  her  affection  and  rev- 
erence for  the  Princess.  In  1806,  on  hearing  of  her 
fatal  illness,  she  wrote,  "  No  one  ever  made  so  deep 
and  so  lasting  an  impression  on  me  as  she  ;  and  from 
the  first  moment  of  our  meeting,  she  has  been,  I  may 
say.  my  guide  to  God." 

Perthes  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Baron 
von  Droste,  a  few  weeks  after  his  marriage  to  Caroline, 
when  the  three  brothers,  Kaspar,  Clemins,  and  Francis 
had  visited  Hamburgh  in  company  with  Kellermann 
and  Brockmann.  He  had  been  their  cicerone,  and  they 
had  gladly  shared  the  frugal  meals  of  the  youthful 
couple.  They  were  about  the  same  age,  and  a  friend- 
ship so  intimate  was  then  established,  that  neither  dif- 
ferences of  position  nor  of  opinion  had  any  power  to 
shake  their  mutual  affection  and  esteem.  "  I  was  par- 
ticularly attracted  by  Kaspar,"  said  Perthes,  in  his 
later  years,  "  even  then  a  suffragan -bishop,  and  one 
who,  in  depth  of  love,  might  have  been  compared  with 
the  beloved  disciple." 

In  1806,  the  Princess  Gallitzin  died.  "The  last 
few  hours,"  writes  Kasper  to  Perthes,  "  were  hours  of 
severe  suffering,  and  yet  rich  in  mercy.  She  met  her 
end  in  perfect  consciousness,  and  committing  herself 
entirely  to  God,  receiving  her  Lord  and  Saviour  in  the 
most  holy  sacrament  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before 


96  carolin:^  Perthes. 

her  death  ;  and  thus  her  beautiful,  purified,  sanctified 
soul  departed  in  the  most  blessed  and  intimate  union 
with  Christ.  A  beautiful  death,  dear  Perthes  ;  pray 
especially  for  her  beloved  daughter,  that  God  may  give 
her  grace."  "  You  believe  as  I  do,"  he  says  in  another 
letter,  "  in  the  necessity  of  illumination  and  grace 
from  above,  and  that  is  everything."  And  somewhat 
later  he  writes,  — "I  am  sure  that  you  cannot  rest  on 
your  present  stand-point.  The  striving  and  hasten- 
ing after  the  truth,  which  characterize  you,  and  the 
need  you  feel  of  some  firm  footing,  cannot  continue ; 
for,  dear  Perthes,  we  are  not  now  searching  for  the 
truth — we  have  it,  we  are  not  looking  for  the  true 
faith,  it  is  already  ours.  This  only  is  our  task  and 
our  duty,  to  show  our  faith  by  a  real  Christian  walk, 
in  all  we  do  or  leave  undone.  All  our  striving  ought 
to  have  for  its  object  progress  in  this  path,  and  since 
we  cannot  advance  without  the  grace  of  God,  we  pray 
to  Him  daily  for  this  grace.  Forget  me  not,  dear 
Perthes." 

Philip  Otto  Runge,  the  artist,  a  man  animated  by  a 
deeply  religious  spirit,  had  for  Perthes  singular  attrac- 
tions. His  morality  was  stern,  his  mind  vigorous  and 
racy,  and  full  of  humor.  While  to  strangers  he  was, 
without  intending  it,  a  sealed  book,  he  opened  his 
whole  heart  without  reserve  to  his  friends,  and  displayed 
all  the  riches  of  his  lively,  witty,  and  original  mind. 
A  great  religious  idea  would  often  unconsciously  in- 
sinuate itself  into  the  merest  play  of  his  pencil ;  for 
everywhere  in  nature  he  saw  traces  of  the  mysteries 
of  creation,  redemption,  and  sanctification,  and  he  re- 
garded it  as  the  great  duty  imposed  upon  him,  to  seek 
out   those  traces,   and   to   represent  them   to  others 


FAMILY   FRIENDS.  97 

through  his  art.  His  apprehension  of  them  was  not 
always  attainable  by  others,  and  thus  many  things  in 
his  compositions  are  unintelligible.  When  asked  for 
an  explanation,  he  used  laughingly  to  say,  "  If  I  could 
have  said  it  in  words,  I  need  not  have  painted  it." 

Runge  could  declare  with  the  most  solemn  sincerity, 
that  the  artist  who  had  gone  so  far  as  to  make  art  a 
religion,  should  have  a  millstone  hung  about  his  neck, 
and  be  thrown  into  the  deepest  part  of  the  sea. 

"  You  have  fully  understood  me,"  writes  Runge  in 
1802,  "  and  I  think  of  myself  just  as  you  think  of  me, 
and  not  at  all  more  highly."  Even  in  his  old  age  Per- 
thes retained  the  impression  he  received  on  his  visit  to 
the  Dresden  Gallery  with  Runge  in  1802.  "  Yesterday 
afternoon,"  he  wrote  to  his  wife  at  the  time,  "  I  saw 
Raphael's  Holy  Family,  alone  and  unaccompanied, 
and  I  trust  that  this  heaven  will  never  pass  away  from 
my  soul.  To  see  creations  such  as  these,  from  the 
hands  of  our  fellow-creatures,  is  ennobling  ;  pictures 
of  this  kind  are  the  direct  effluence  and  evidence  of  the 
Divine  within  us,  and  words  are  poor  in  comparison." 

The  friendships  that  Perthes  had  now  formed  were 
chiefly  with  men  whose  grand  object,  though  pursued 
in  diverse  ways,  was  the  cultivation  of  the  inner  life. 
His  natural  disposition,  and  the  necessities  of  a  calling 
that  demanded  the  greatest  activity,  preserved  the 
equipoise  of  his  own  mind  in  the  midst  of  the  various 
influences  to  which  he  was  subjected.  Two  men  of 
great  eminence  who  shared  his  intimacy.  Count  Adam 
Moltke,  and  Schonborn,  were  perpetually  exerting 
themselves  to  give  intensity  to  Perthes'  easily  excited 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  world. 

Count  Moltke,  a  fine-looking  man,  with  a  noble  fore- 
's 


98  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

head  and  a  sparkling  eye,  had  lived  from  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century  at  Nntschau,  a  small  estate  in 
Holland,  which  he  had  received  as  a  trifling  indemnity 
for  the  lost  family  fiefs  in  Zealand.  His  restless  energy 
and  glowing  imagination  had  been  deeply  stirred  by 
the  French  revolution,  and  he  remained,  for  many 
years,  one  of  its  most  ardent,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
purest  well-wishers.  After  having  travelled  over  a 
great  part  of  Europe,  and  experienced  not  a  few  of 
life's  bitterest  sorrows,  he  returned  to  Nutschau,  and 
there,  far  from  the  cares  of  State,  though  deeply  inter- 
ested in  political  movements,  he  strove  with  a  forced 
resignation  to  live  patiently  through  that  iron  time. 
He  required  but  little  sleep,  and  sought  to  still  the  in- 
ward sorrow  by  the  earnest  and  persevering  study  of 
history  ;  particularly  the  history  of  the  rise  of  the 
Italian  Republics  of  the  middle  ages,  with  which  he 
was  minutely  acquainted.  He  had  often  undertaken 
to  present  his  own  thoughts  in  poetry,  or  to  give  the 
history  of  remarkable  political  events  of  former  times, 
but  he  was  unable  to  express  his  ideas  with  that  clear- 
ness and  precision  which  were  necessary  to  fit  them  for 
appearing  before  the  public.  He  was  thus  excluded 
from  writing  as  well  as  from  acting  history  ;  but  as,  in 
the  days  of  his  fervid  youth,  he  had  exercised  a  pow- 
erful influence  on  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  so 
in  his  mature  age  he  infused  energy  into  every  circle 
that  he  frequented.  "  He  had  attained  the  perfection 
of  his  nature,"  said  Niebuhr  in  1806,  of  this  the  friend 
of  his  youth  ;  "  he  had  tamed  the  lion,  the  ever-restless 
spirit  within  him,  and  he  had  used  the  fire  of  his  youth 
to  animate  Greek  forms." 

Perthes  had  met  Moltke  at  Kiel  in  1799.     "  What  a 


FAMILY   FRIENDS.  99 

man  !"  he  wrote  to  his  wife  ;  "  what  power  !  and  what 
self-control !  I  wish,  Caroline,  that  you  could  see  this 
*  mad  Moltke,'  as  they  call  him.  I  esteem  him  as 
highly  as  any  of  my  acquaintances.  His  wife,  too,  is 
a  charming  person."  A  few  months  later  the  two  had 
become  intimate,  and  mutually  attached.  "  Thank  the 
Countess  for  her  delightful  letter,"  wrote  Perthes  to 
the  Count,  in  the  autumn  of  1799.  "  Caroline  and  I 
may  well  read  with  surprise  what  she  wishes,  and  I 
wish  I  had  matters  of  corresponding  weight  and  inter- 
est to  write  of  to  her."  Moltke  came  frequently  to  Ham- 
burgh at  that  time,  as  he  did  in  later  years  ;  and  then, 
all  thought  of  rest  for  that  night  was  at  an  end.  Be- 
tween nine  and  ten  in  the  evening,  when  Perthes  had 
left  business  and  had  joined  his  family,  he  would  find 
Moltke  waiting  his  arrival.  Before  many  minutes 
were  over,  they  were  involved  in  an  earnest  and  im- 
passioned conversation,  and  many  a  time  the  rising 
sun  reminded  the  disputants  that  it  was  time  to  break 
off.  When  Moltke  was  in  Florence  in  1803,  a  report 
reached  him  that  Perthes  was  about  to  stop  payment. 
"  Help  my  friend  immediately  with  all  that  I  have,  if 
I  be  yet  in  time,"  wrote  Moltke  to  his  man  of  business 
in  Hamburgh,  at  the  same  time  sending  the  necessary 
powers  with  the  letter. 

The  Councillor  of  Legation,  Schonborn,  was  in  almost 
every  respect  the  direct  opposite  of  Count  Moltke. 
Rist  has  preserved  his  name  from  oblivion  in  a  charac- 
teristic sketch.  From  1802  to  1806,  he  lived  as  a 
guest  in  the  house  of  Perthes.  This  extraordinary 
man,  whose  unpleasing  exterior  was  somewhat  relieved 
by  the  expression  of  resolution  and  depth  in  his  coun- 
tenance, would  frequently  remain   in   the   house  for 


100  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

weeks  together,  rejoicing  in  the  comfort  of  his  dress- 
ing-gown and  the  disorder  of  his  apartment,  or  buried 
in  the  literary  treasures  that  the  warehouse  afforded. 
He  was  now  nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  and  there  was 
no  person  or  thing  in  the  circuit  of  the  busy  city  that 
had  any  claim  upon  him ;  and  thus  in  the  enjoyment  of 
a  long-desired  independence,  he  would  submit  to  no 
restraints,  except  those  which  his  own  habits  and  his 
constitutional  sluggishness  imposed.  About  noon  he 
was  frequently  to  be  seen  standing  in  the  door-way, 
dressed  in  a  loose  overcoat,  with  his  stick  under  his  arm, 
looking  about  in  all  directions,  pondering  with  what 
friend  or  in  what  tavern  to  bestow  himself  for  the 
hour,  and  then,  after  a  while,  reentering  the  house  to 
shut  himself  up  again  in  his  own  room.  In  the  house 
of  Perthes  he  was  regarded  as  a  member  of  the  family^ 
and  went  and  came  just  as  he  pleased,  at  one  time  en- 
joying the  lively  and  ever-varying  society,  at  other 
times  passing  hours  in  silent  abstraction,  or  in  a  kind 
of  dreamy,  silent  enjoyment  with  the  children,  or  the 
visitors.  "  Silence,"  says  Rist,  "  was  no  burden  to  him, 
even  when  fools  were  talking  ;  but  in  later  years,  he 
would  give  vent  to  his  displeasure  in  some  one  of  those 
strong  expressions  which  he  had  borrowed  from  the 
rude  mode  of  speech  not  uncommon  in  Lower  Saxony." 
When,  however,  Schonborn  could  be  led  to  converse, 
and  Perthes  well  understood  how  to  bring  him  to  the 
point,  he  became  at  once  the  centre  of  the  circle,  and 
the  rare  treasures  of  learning,  and  of  general  knowl- 
edge and  experience  of  life,  that  lay  hidden  in  his 
mind,  were  brought  out  in  surprising  turns,  and  in  ex- 
pressions emphatic  and  racy,  the  suggestions  of  the 
moment. 


X. 


'HE  manifold  relations  in  which  Perthes  stood 
to  active  life,  and  the  distinguished  men 
among  whom  he  moved,  could  not  fail  to  ex- 
ercise a  great  influence  upon  him,  and  almost 
to  fashion  his  mind  anew.  "  I  know,"  he  says 
in  a  letter  to  his  Schwartzburg  uncle,  "  that 
you  often  think  of  your  Fritz  ;  but  I  am  no 
longer  the  Fritz  of  whom  you  are  thinking.  You  only 
know  '  little  Fritz  -/  you  have  to  begin  to  learn  to  know 
me.  Where  shall  I  commence,  and  where  leave  off,  in 
order  to  explain  to  you  who  and  what  I  am  ?  You 
knew  me  as  a  child  who  had  something  good  in  him, 
who  was  lovable  and  who  was  thankful  to  be  loved, 
warmly  returning  the  love  that  was  given  ;  as  a  child 
of  quick  perceptions  and  some  cleverness,  but  also  of 
most  perilous  vivacity,  and  of  almost  morbid  suscepti- 
bility. Many  years  have  since  rolled  away,  and  of  all 
that  the  child  cherished  in  his  bosom,  what  is  left? — 
what  is  added  ? — what  has  the  child  preserved  of  the 
childlike  ?  If  I  were  to  endeavor  to  trace  the  path  I 
have  trodden,  who  shall  certify  me  that  I  really  and 
truly  know  it  ?  " 

From  his  earliest  childhood,  and  amidst  anxiety  and 
poverty,  Perthes  had  uniformly  and  earnestly  striven 

iioi) 


102  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

to  bring  his  soul  and  his  whole  course  of  action  into 
harmony  with  the  Eternal  Will.  As  he  grew  in  knowl- 
edge and  in  culture,  he  had  always  endeavored  to  at- 
tain his  objects  by  spiritual  means ;  and  yet  where 
anxiety  regarding  his  inward  condition  was  stronger 
than  levity  and  self-confidence,  he  was  forced  to  ac- 
knowledge that  the  will  in  his  bosom  was  far  from  be- 
ing the  will  of  God,  and  that  the  tendency  to  oppose 
his  own  will  to  the  will  of  God,  was  still  the  master 
tendency.  Disturbed  as  he  was  by  a  consciousness  of 
this  kind,  the  society  of  so  many  eminent  persons,  who 
regarded  the  discovery  of  man's  real  position  with  re- 
gard to  God,  as  the  first  and  great  business  of  life, 
could  not  fail  to  give  a  religious  direction  to  the  fur- 
ther development  of  his  mind.  He  had  long  ago  given 
up,  as  limited  and  perverse,  his  early  stand-point  ac- 
cording to  which  man  was  to  fashion  himself  to  a  ra- 
tional existence  by  virtue  of  an  intelligent  will. 

In  1799  he  thus  wrote  to  Caroline, — "  N.  was  with 
me  yesterday  ;  he  thoroughly  displeases  me ;  his  for- 
mal knowingness  has  dried  up  his  brain  and  hollowed 
out  his  heart.  After  all  his  much-boasted  reflection, 
he  has  merely  satisfied  a  sort  of  tabular  ethical  system ; 
but  in  the  (so-called)  desire  always  to  do  right,  he  has 
no  share,  he  has  lost  spirit  and  vitality.  He  dare  not 
follow  the  promptings  of  his  inner  genius,  for  he  must 
needs  reflect  perpetually  ;  and  yet  his  reflection  has 
not  been  able  to  preserve  him  from  a  commonplace 
style  of  mind,  which  was  not  natural  to  him.'' 

Perthes  had  long  regarded  Feeling — the  immediate 
consciousness  of  the  soul — as  the  only  power  that  could 
lead  man  through  life  with  cheerful  and  courageous 
views  of  God  and  the  world.     He  had  renounced  the 


PROGRESS   IN   RELTfilOX.  103 

hope  kindled  by  Schiller,  of  seeing  feeling  purified  and 
perfected  by  means  of  Art.  "  If,"  he  writes  to  Count 
Moltke,  "  we  could  indeed  so  elevate  and  ennoble  the 
Physical  as  to  harmonize  with  the  Spiritual,  humanity 
would  be  perfected.  But  we  are  soon  aroused  from  the 
delusive  dream  of  such  a  hope,  in  a  world  where  sorrow, 
want,  and  death,  meet  us  at  every  turn." 

Perthes  had  next,  as  we  have  seen,  been  brought 
under  the  influence  of  Jacobi,  and  listened  to  the  voice 
of  God  speaking  to  and  in  Feeling ;  still  there  was 
disunion  and  discord  in  his  mind.  '*  Man  is  a  twofold 
being,"  he  writes  to  Jacobi,  "  the  one  mocks  the  other, 
and  the  latter  in  its  turn  despises  the  former.  This  is 
the  state  of  every  man  who  is  not  in  harmony  with 
himself."*  Latterly,  in  his  intercourse  with  the  circles 
of  Holstein  and  Miinster,  Perthes  had  met  with  men 
who,  in  a  manner  tliat  had  not  previously  come  under 
his  observation,  seemed  to  be  in  harmony  with  them- 
selves. That  it  was  the  supremacy  of  Love  that  en- 
abled them  to  preserve  peace,  joy,  and  inward  harmo- 
ny in  the  midst  of  the  tumults  of  life,  he  was  fully  per- 
suaded, "  It  is  only  one  overpowering  idea  that  can 
uphold  a  man,  and  make  him  forget  sorrow  and  death, 
earth  and  heaven."  He  writes  to  Moltke,  "All  such  for- 
getfulness  is  greatness  ;  but  the  greatness  may  be  good 
and  may  be  evil,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  idea  that 
lias  called  it  forth.  We  have  seen  men  of  angelic  and  of 
devilish  minds,  equally  ready,  firmly  and  fearlessly  to 
confront  the  terrible.  What  is  great  is  not  always  good, 
but  what  is  good  must  always  be  great.  Now,  there  is  a 
something  which  is  in  God,  and  which  He  has  kindled 
in  us,  that  is  always  both  good  and  great,  and  this  is 
Love.     Love  can  make  even  weakness  great,  and  what 


104  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

the  highest  greatness  is  without  love  we  may  see  in  the 
devil.  Your  stumbling-block,  dear  Moltke,  is  not  the 
want  of  Christian  love  in  your  heart,  but  the  prepon- 
derance of  Roman  greatness  in  your  head.  But  why 
should  we  think  of  greatness  at  all  ?  It  is  but  a  poetic 
dream  for  us  now  ;  if  we  have  made  love  our  para- 
mount idea,  greatness  will  follow  of  itself." 

"  Only  the  man  who  is  possessed  by  love,"  he  writes 
to  Jacobi,  "  can  solve  the  riddle  of  our  being  and  of 
our  freedom.  Love  is  the  visible  form  of  freedom. 
He  who  loves,  and  even  he  who  does  not  love,  can  see 
if  he  will  that  love  is  free  as  nothing  in  the  world  be- 
sides. I  am  in  bondage  if  I  do  not  love,  and  I  cannot 
love  if  I  am  in  bondage  ;  and  he  who  loves  knows,  as 
none  else  does  know,  that  individual  freedom  and  the 
will  of  God  are  one  and  the  same  thing." 

But  in  order  to  abide  in  love,  as  the  permanent  con- 
dition of  the  soul,  Perthes  felt  the  necessity  of  a  hu- 
man and  personal  medium,-  and  no  one  stood  nearer  to 
him  than  Caroline.  It  was  then  through  her,  and  her 
alone,  that  he  expected  the  essence  of  life,  as  he  called 
love,  to  be  incorporated  with  his  own  being.  "  That 
I  have  something  within  me  which  lives  and  will  live 
eternally,"  he  writes  to  his  wife,  "  I  feel  with  a  degree 
of  certainty  that  is  not  to  be  expressed  in  words  ;  I 
also  feel  that  this  eternal  individuality  can  only  find 
its  satisfaction  in  the  love  of  God.  To  him  who 
strives  after  this  love,  and  who,  in  the  midst  of  stum- 
bling and  falling,  praying  and  thanksgiving,  is  in  ear- 
nest, God  will  be  gracious  even  if  he  worship  a  bit  of 
wood  instead  of  the  Crucified  One.  For  as  the  invis- 
ible is  hidden  behind  the  curtain  of  the  outward  world 
of  sense,  every  medium  by  which  I  venture  to  draw 


PROGRESS   IN   RELIGION.  105 

near  to  the  glory  of  God,  is  a  sanctified  means  of  es- 
cape from  sin,  and  is  not  in  itself  idolatry.  Evil 
rages  within  me  and  is  powerful  ;  my  prayers  are  but 
signals  of  distress,  and  do  not  help  ;  for  I  am  not  pen- 
etrated, as  you  are,  by  the  holiness  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  by  His  light  and  glory  ;  but  I  am  penetrated 
by  the  love  of  thee,  my  angel,  and  through  the  love  of 
thee  I  shall  rise  higher,  and  draw  nearer  to  Him,  in 
.whom  I  find  I  cannot  participate  without  some  medi- 
um." And  in  another  letter,  "  Do  not  lose  heart,  my 
pious  Caroline,  and  make  me,  by  your  instrumentality, 
as  pious  as  you  are  yourself." 

But  Perthes  now  began  to  be  conscious  that  the  love 
of  God  is  not  a  spontaneous  development  of  that 
which  he  had  spoken  of  as  the  love  of  man,  but  that 
it  differs  from  this  not  only  in  degree,  but  in  its  ob- 
ject, and  therefore  in  its  essence.  Although  deeply 
conscious  that  his  affection  for  Caroline  was  ever  deep- 
ening and  strengthening,  he  yet  drew  back  timidly 
from  God.  He  regarded  his  past  life,  and  the  present 
condition  of  his  soul,  as  a  partition-wall  between  him- 
self and  God,  which  even  love  had  no  power  to  throw 
down,  and  he  could  not  but  confess  a  desire  to  be  with- 
out God,  and  a  struggling  against  God  as  the  predom- 
inant tendency  of  his  heart.  It  seemed  to  him  impos- 
sible that  the  alienation  of  man  from  God  should  be 
overcome  by  any  human  means. 

"  My  internal  anxiety,"  he  writes  to  Caroline,  "  calls 
for  some  one  who  in  my  stead  gives  satisfaction  ;  and 
undefined  feelings  come  across  me,  which  seek  after  a 
God  who  as  man  has  felt  the  agony  of  man.  I  have 
leaned  upon  many  a  staff  that  has  given  way,  and  have 
seen  many  a  star  fall  from  heaven.    What  is  true,  is 


106  CAROLINE*  PERTHES. 

given  to  us  in  science,  but  not  The  Truth.  Human 
science  can  measure  many  things,  but  can  take  the/w?? 
measure  of  none,  and  the  great  mysteries  of  life  must 
for  ever  elude  her  grasp  ; — have  they,  therefore,  no 
existence,  or  are  they,  therefore,  less  certain  or  less 
vital  r 

He  thus  writes  to  Moltke,  "  That  which  is  unusual, 
which  does  not  repeat  itself,  but  happens  once  only,  we 
call  unnatural,  and  if  we  have  not  ourselves  been  con- 
scious of  it,  we  call  it  untrue,  and  characterize  the  be- 
lief of  it  as  superstitious  ;  and  yet  Nature  itself,  which 
is  assuredly  the  most  unnatural  of  all  miracles,  delights 
us,  and  we  find  it  quite  natural  :  and  thus  we,  whose 
whole  history  forms  but  a  moment  of  this  great  na- 
ture-miracle, pretend  to  decide  upon  the  naturalness  or 
unnaturalness  of  a  particular  event !  No,  the  great 
mysteries  of  the  world  are  not  to  be  sought  and  found 
without  us — the  intuition  of  them  is  born  in  us  ;  our 
soul  is  intuitively  christian,  and  that  which  exists  in 
us  as  intuition,  the  mercy  of  God  has  revealed  exter- 
nally as  actual,  objective  existence."  Jacobi  had 
maintained  against  Perthes,  "  I  shall  become  a  Chris- 
tian, according  to  Claudius,  if  I  can  be  certified  of  the 
perpetuity  of  the  Pentecostal  miracle  ;  but  no  histori- 
cal belief  can  make  up  to  me  for  the  cessation  of  the 
Pentecostal  miracle."  To  which  Perthes  had  replied, 
"  An  individual  man  cannot  be  justified  in  disbelieving 
the  perpetuity  of  the  Pentecostal  miracle  simply  be- 
cause he  has  not  himself  experienced  it."  To  Perthes 
the  facts  of  Revelation  were  indubitable  historical 
events  ;  ''  but,"  he  says  to  Moltke,  "  the  time  when 
these  facts  are  to  become  vital  to  me,  and  the  measure 
of  their  vitality,  depend  on  the  grace  of  God." 


PROGRESS   IN   REFJC^TON.  107 

An  inward  wrestling  and  striving  now  took  place  to 
realize  in  himself,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  the  uncreated 
Son  of  the  Father  as  in  reality  his  God."  The  (to 
him)  undeniable  fact  of  the  incarnation  he  desired  for 
himself  as  the  idea  that  should  take  entire  possession 
of  his  being. 

Holy  Scripture  now  appeared  to  his  soul  in  all  its 
majesty,  and  Claudius  was  at  his  side,  to  aid,  to  ani- 
mate, and  to  confirm,  at  one  time  in  person,  at  another 
by  his  writings.  Their  personal  intercourse  had  been 
continually  growing  more  intimate  and  confidential, 
and  Claudius^  tract,  "  A  Father's  Simple  Instructions 
about  the  Christian  Religion,"  which  appeared  in  1803, 
in  the  seventh  part  of  his  collected  works,  had  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  his  son-in-law  ;  and  he  reached 
a  certainty  of  conviction,  and  a  repose  of  mind  which 
he  had  never  before  known. 

"  You  ask  how  it  fares  with  me,  dear  Moltke  ;  I 
hioio  what  truth  is,  I  know  what  man  is,  and  what  he 
shall  be  ;  I  hioio  how  to  estimate  the  world  ;  I  know 
that  the  richer  a  man  becomes  in  himself,  the  poorer 
he  is  in  the  world.  I  thank  God  for  this  knowledge, 
and  especially  for  the  consciousness  that  I  am  a  poor 
sinner,  in  myself  helpless  and  comfortless.  Those  men 
are  now  a  problem  to  me  who  seek  satisfaction  in 
themselves,  and,  if  unsuccessful,  try  to  find  it  in  one  fruit 
after  another,  in  the  hope  of  being  satisfied  at  last, 
and  are  never  awakened  to  the  alarming  consciousness 
that  the  sap  is  not  tliere." 

And  in  a  letter  to  Caroline,  "  My  youth,"  he  says, 
"  was  healthy,  and  an  unquenchable  longing  and  an 
intense  striving  upwards  possessed  me,  much  more  trur 


108  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

ly  than  now.  But,  on  the  other  liand,  I  have  now  a 
clear  insight  into  life  ;  I  am  conscious  of  power  and 
vigor,  of  an  assurance  and  actuality  such  as  I  never 
possessed  before  ;  I  know  God,  and  this  state  of  peace- 
ful certainty  is  not  indeed  so  pleasing,  not  so  flattering 
I  might  say,  as  ray  former  condition  ;  but  perhaps,  on 
this  account,  it  is  a  surer  evidence  of  the  truth.  If 
passions  were  less  violent,  and  if  we  could  escape 
from  the  troubles  of  the  world,  it  might  be  better  for 
us  ;  but  it  is  presumption  to  require  what  God  has  not 
been  pleased  to  ordain  for  us.  An  undisturbed  inter- 
nal assurance  and  perfect  peace  were  possible  to  only 
one  in  this  world,  and  that  one  was  the  God-man.  Dear 
Caroline,  when  we  have  learned  to  be  content,  and  to 
accommodate  ourselves  to  times,  circumstances,  and  out- 
ward relations,  with  tolerable  calmness  and  composure, 
we  thus  advance  more  steadily  than  by  all  our  striving 
and  self-tormenting,  towards  the  goal  to  which  through 
the  grace  of  God  we  are  drawing  nearer,  but  to  which 
we  can  never  attain  on  earth." 

To  Jacobi  he  says,  "  I  thank  you  from  my  heart,  my 
fatherly  friend,  for  the  kind  tone  of  the  letter  in  which 
you  declare  the  difference  between  our  inmost  convic- 
tions ;  I  have  only  now  to  add,  that  by  the  words, 
*  Philosphical  unbelief  satisfies  me  as  little  as  poetical 
superstition,'  I  certainly  did  not  intend  to  indicate 
that  which  you,  with  an  implication  of  censure,  desig- 
nate romantic.  I  believe  that  I  take  surer  ground 
than  others  in  my  opposition  to  a  wild,  wanton,  vain, 
and  ever-wandering  belief,  because  I  take  my  stand  on 
the  revealed  word  of  God,  as  the  only  word,  the  only 
law  which  is  cthove  us  j  all  besides  is  only  in  us,  and 


PROGRESS   IN   RELIGION.  109 

whether  it  be  a  simple  and  compact,  or  a  romantic  and 
parti-colored  philosophy,  it  wanders  in  a  perpetual 
maze,  till  at  last  it  finds  tliat  all  is  vanity." 

'*I  am,  like  you,  disturbed  by  Jean  Paul's  fluctuations 
whenever  I  read  his  works  ;  he  indeed  longs  for  truth 
and  a  settled  faith,  and  yet  he  cannot  abstain  from 
representing  the  God-man  as  a  mere  creature  of  human 
imagination.  But  poems  about  the  Messiah,  whether 
written  by  Klopstock  or  by  others,  will  never  do." 
"  It  is  far  better,"  he  says,  after  having  read  that 
amusing  book,  "  Scenes  from  the  World  of  Spirits," 
"  to  become  a  fool  by  philosophizing,  than  to  graft  our 
twn  imaginations  upon  the  great  truths  of  religion." 
"  Winckelmann's  letters  are  interesting,  yet,  like 
Winckelmann  himself,  they  have  afforded  me  but  little 
pleasure,"  he  says  in  another  letter  to  Jacobi,  "  and 
Goethe  honored  him  too  much,  when  he  called  him  a 
true-born  Pagan,  at  the  same  time  making  him  the 
representative  of  his  own  views  of  man  and  the  world. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  I  find  in  these  letters  the  Goe- 
thean  paganism  more  beautifully  and  forcibly  developed 
than  it  is  anywhere  else,  as  the  opposite  pole  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  on  this  side,  we  have  strength  and  unity 
through  love,  on  that,  self-renunciation.  Christianity 
is  a  free-gift-investiture — and  in  Christianity  all  is  given 
by  the  grace  of  God,  and  received  by  love  ;  while  in 
heathenism  all  is  nature,  and  every  product  is  a  self. 
The  religious  feelings  of  men  appear  as  if  begotten  by 
nature  alone  ;  every  creature  as  if  self-created  is  to 
stand  only  upon  its  own  feet,  man  is  to  enjoy  all  things, 
and  to  resist  or  endure  all  unavoidable  evil  witli  a 
strength  whose  origin  is  in  himself.  Heathenism  and 
Christianity  exhaust  everything  ;  and  that  which  lies 


110  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

between,  call  it  by  what  name  you  please,  is  a  mere 
inconsistent  fragment,  mere  patchwork  and  vanity, 
resulting  either  in  despondency  or  in  pride.  That 
Goethe  should  hate  the  pole  that  is  opposed  to  him  is 
only  natural ;  and  why  should  not  the  Christian  also 
choose  rather  the  opposition  of  an  avowed  enemy,  than 
that  of  ten  hobbling  praters  ?  Let  any  man  honestly 
strive  to  become  a  Goetliean  Pagan,  and  truly  to  stand 
on  his  own  feet,  it  will  give  him  work  enough,  and 
will  bring  many  proselytes  to  Christianity.  I  must 
confess  to  having  received  a  good  lecture  from  the 
Countess  Louisa  for  my  praise  of  this  Goethean  work  ; 
but  by  appealing  to  Reinhold  she  herself  proves  that 
I  am  right  and  that  she  is  wrong." 

Jacobi  left  Holstein  in  the  spring  of  1805,  to  settle 
at  Munich.  "  God  be  with  you,"  wrote  Perthes.  "How 
can  I  ever  sufficiently  tliank  you,  who  have  been  the 
means  of  giving  a  fixed  direction  to  my  development? 
It  is  through  you  that  I  have  attained  to  the  convic- 
tion, the  religious  certainty  which  I  now  enjoy,  and 
shall  enjoy  throughout  eternity ;  that  conviction  which, 
though  seeking,  you  had  not,  and  I  am  compelled  to 
say,  have  not  yourself  yet  found.  None  but  you  per- 
suaded me  of  the  nothingness  of  self ;  but  that  which 
you  have  not  been  able  to  grasp,  to  seize,  or  retain 
with  your  head  or  with  your  heart,  was  to  be  souglit 
in  a  direction  different  from  that  pursued  by  you. 
Farewell !  God  bless  you  and  all  your  doings." 

It  was  through  anxiety  and  labor  and  after  many 
wanderings,  that  Perthes  had  won  his  way  to  the  sav- 
ing truths  of  Christianity,  but  he  had  won  them  as 
part  and  parcel  of  his  life.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that 
neither  at  this  nor  at  any  later  period  did  they  reign 


PROGRESS   IN   RELIGION.  Ill 

alone,  nor  did  they  hold  habitual  ascendancy  in  his 
heart :  the  natural  man  too  often  asserted  itself,  in 
sorrow  and  in  joy,  in  the  midst  of  the  cares  and  activ- 
ities of  life  ;  but  the  truths  he  had  gained  were  never 
lost  sight  of ;  and  when,  after  many  years,  he  lay  on 
his  death-bed,  they  filled  his  whole  soul,  and  had  power 
to  take  its  sting  from  death. 


XI. 

§vmU  &t  tto  §eaw  1805  m&  1806. 

HEN  the  imperial  deputies  met  at  Ratisbon 
in  1803,  to  parcel  out  the  territories  of  the 
weaker  powers,  and  divide  them  among  the 
stronger,  Hamburgh  had  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  preserve  its  independence  as  an  im- 
perial city.  Nevertheless,  it  was  plain  to 
all  who  looked  at  the  power  and  violence 
of  Napoleon  on  the  one  side,  and  the  weakness  of  the 
empire  on  the  other,  that  if  there  was  any  future  for 
Hamburgh,  it  was  to  be  found  in  its  own  political  wis- 
dom and  strength  ;  and  of  political  vitality,  there  was 
little  then  within  the  walls  of  the  free  imperial  city. 
That  indifference  to  all  political  affairs  which  pervaded 
the  whole  of  Germany,  had  extended  its  benumbing 
influence  to  the  council  of  the  city,  and  to  the  once 
proud  and  sturdy  burgesses.  The  citizens,  careless 
and  indifferent,  had  left  the  gorernment  of  the  city 
entirely  to  the  council,  formerly  the  object  of  so  much 
jealousy  and  suspicion.  The  burgher  colleges,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  watch  the  proceedings  of  the  senate, 
were  deserted  by  all,  save  those  whose  duties  compelled 
them  to  be  there,  for  the  citizens  had  ceased  to  avail 
themselves  of  this  field  of  political  activity.  The  civic 
government  of  the  preceding  century  was,  indeed,  one 

(112) 


EVENTS  OP  THE  YEARS  1805  AND  1806.    113 

of  great  convenience,  alike  for  governors  and  for  the 
governed  ;  but  it  was  not  of  a  kind  to  develop  strength, 
confidence,  or  ability,  either  in  the  council  or  in  the 
citizens,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  act  with  independence 
in  difiicult  and  important  circumstances  ;  and  the  men 
whose  eyes  were  open  to  European  events,  found  it 
morally  impossible  to  arouse  to  any  lively  political 
sympathies  the  torpid  life  which  pervaded  the  imperial 
city. 

The  enthusiasm  with  which  Perthes  had,  as  a  very 
young  man,  received  the  intelligence  of  the  French 
Revolution,  was  converted  to  hostility  when  France  de- 
clared war  against  the  German  empire.  It  was  not  in 
Prussia  or  in  Austria,  but  in  the  smaller  principalities, 
that  the  true  national,  imperial  feeling  was  to  be  found, 
and  Perthes,  who  had  been  born  in  pne  of  the  petty 
states,  had  grown  up  with  a  true  Kaiser-loving  heart. 
Hamburgh,  it  is  true,  relying  on  its  foreign  relations 
for  its  importance,  did  not  afford  the  materials  for  a 
thoroughly  German  national  enthusiasm,  but  the  op- 
posite feeling,  at  least,  had  no  influence.  The  earlier 
leaning  in  that  town  towards  the  French  Republic  had 
been  weakened  by  the  growing  connexion  with  Eng- 
land. 

Although  in  the  distinguished  men  with  whom 
Perthes  associated,  the  religious  was  the  predomi- 
nating element,  he  still  took  a  lively  interest  in  political 
events.  He  was  not  then  committed  to  any  definite 
political  tendencies  or  doctrines  ;  he  remained  entirely 
free,  also,  from  a  limited  narrow-minded  zeal  for  a 
particular  part  of  the  fatherland  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
the  rest.  His  political  feelings,  thoroughly  German, 
were  opposed   to  the  cosmopolitanism  which  places 


114  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

greater  value  on  political  doctrines  than  on  national- 
ities, as  well  as  to  that  local  or  territorial  patriotism 
which  cannot  see  the  wood  on  account  of  the  trees. 

He  saw  Hamburgh  only  through  Germany.  He 
had  an  ardent  desire  to  gain  insight  into  its  great 
political  relations  ;  and  the  circumstances  of  life  in 
which  he  was  placed  were  of  a  kind  to  afford  facilities 
for  the  realization  of  this  desire.  Among  his  ac- 
quaintances were  many  men  who  had  come  into  per- 
sonal contact  with  European  affairs.  Schonborn  had 
opened  his  eyes  to  the  internal  condition  of  England 
and  its  relation  to  the  Continent,  while  the  Danish 
poet,  Baggesen,  who  had  moved  for  many  years  in  the 
most  distinguished  circles  of  Paris,  and  whose  political 
views  were  at  once  intelligent  and  profound,  threw 
much  light  on  the  confused  politics  of  France. 

Reinhard,  the  French  consul  in  Hamburgh,  was  a 
member  of  the  circle  in  which  Perthes  moved,  and  by 
frequent  intercourse  with  him,  Perthes  imbibed  en- 
larged views  of  political  affairs. 

Perthes  longed  for  a  political  connection  with  men 
who  would  not  only  give  breadth  to  his  political  views, 
but  also  share  his  political  feelings,  and  by  a  commu- 
nity of  hope  and  fear,  waiting  and  striving,  might  im- 
part warmth,  clearness,  and  strength  to  his  own  con- 
victions. It  was  easier  to  find  political  fellowship  then 
than  in  later  times  ;  for  there  were  at  that  period  but 
two  parties — a  small  one  that  saw  political  salvation 
only  in  opposition  to  Napoleon — another  and  much 
larger  one  which  hoped  to  achieve  it  through  his  in- 
strumentality. All  who  took  up  a  hostile  position  to- 
wards France,  and  sought,  at  whatever  cost,  to  preserve 
the  internal,  and  to  retrieve  the  external  independence 


EVENTS  OP  THE  YEABS  1805  AND  1806.    115 

of  the  German  nation,  felt  themselves  politically  one. 
All  the  striving  after  this  or  that  definite  form  of  the 
German  political  future,  which  subsequently  gave  rise 
to  numerous  parties,  was  tlien  merged  in  the  general 
desire  to  free  Germany  from  the  supremacy  of  Napo- 
leon. Of  all  the  men  of  German  sentiment  with  whom 
Perthes  had  intercourse,  Johannes  von  Miiller  and  Nie- 
buhr  exercised  the  most  powerful  influence  over  liim. 

Johannes  von  Miiller  had  left  Vienna  for  Berlin  in 
1804,  as  Prussian  historiographer,  and,  in  closest  con- 
cert with  Gentz,  had  put  forth  all  his  power  to  remove 
the  difficulties  which  opposed  a  simultaneous  and  united 
rising  of  Austria  and  Prussia.  Miiller  was  at  the  same 
time  incessantly  seeking  to  arouse  the  national  feeling 
of  the  Germans,  and  to  excite  their  wrath  against  the 
oppressor,  by  a  series  of  spirited  and  powerful  appeals. 
It  was  one  of  these  that  led  Perthes  to  write  his  first 
letter  to  Miiller,  dated  August,  1805.  He  turns  to  him 
with  warm  and  generous  confidence,  and  concludes 
with  these  words,  "  old  and  young,  rich  and  poor, 
strong  and  weak,  all  who  love  their  fatherland,  freedom, 
law,  and  order,  must  now  act  together." — "  Thanks,  no- 
ble-minded man,  for  your  letter,"  was  Miiller's  reply  ; 
"  it  is  refreshing  to  find  such  genuine  feeling,  and  with- 
out having  seen  you,  I  have  become  your  friend.  The 
time  is  come  when  all  who  are  like-minded  must  em- 
brace each  other  as  brethren,  and  work  together  for 
the  national  deliverance.  This  is  now  the  only  charm 
that  life  has  for  me.  There  is  an  unspoken  language, 
an  invisible  brotherhood  among  the  like-minded,  by 
which  they  recognize  each  other.  This  brotherhood 
to  which  you,  my  friend,  belong,  is  the  salt  of  the  earthy 
and  they  who  are  united  in  it  are  brethren  and  friends, 


116  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

far  more  really  than  many  who  have  passed  a  lifetime 
together." 

From  this  first  exchange  of  letters  sprung  a  corres- 
pondence, which,  as  a  key  to  the  opinions  and  tenden- 
cies of  the  years  1806,  1807,  and  1808,  is  of  great  im- 
portance. A  portion  of  it  was  afterwards  printed. 
At  Easter,  1806,  Perthes  went  to  see  Miiller  at  Berlin, 
and  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  Miiller  came  to 
Hamburgh  to  return  the  visit.  Of  this  personal  inter- 
course Perthes  thus  wrote  to  Miiller: — "The  esteem 
that  is  felt  for  a  lofty  spirit,  for  a  great  name,  for  a 
frank  correspondent,  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the 
personal  attachment  and  affection  felt  towards  the 
man  ;  and,  now  that  I  have  seen  you,  believe  that  I 
entertain  this  personal  feeling  towards  you.  I  for  my 
part  make  no  claim  on  you,  except  that  you  should  re- 
cognize that  a  strong  and  warm  heart  beats  in  ray  bo- 
som, and  that  I  have  some  knowledge  of  the  necessities 
of  the  times." 

The  friendship  with  Niebuhr,  who  had  been  long 
known  in  the  circles  frequented  by  Perthes,  was  of  slower 
growth,  but  of  greater  depth.  He  had  spent  his  sixteenth 
summer  in  Hamburgh  with  BUsch,  in  1792,  and  had  at 
that  time  made  the  acquaintance  of  Klopstock,  Reimarus, 
and  Sieveking ;  and  while  studying  at  Kiel,  from  1794 
to  1796,  had  formed  a  close  intimacy  with  the  Stolbergs, 
Reinhold,  Jacobi,  and  especially  with  Moltke.  In  the 
spring  of  1798,  he  again  passed  some  time  at  Hamburgh 
before  his  departure  for  England,  and  it  was  then  that 
an  acquaintance  began  with  Perthes,  who  was  about 
the  same  age  with  himself;  this  acquaintance  soon 
ripened  into  a  friendship  that  continued  to  increase  in 
warmth,  in  depth,  and  in  power,  up  to  the  period  of 


EVENTS  OF  THE  YEARS  1805  AND  1806.    117 

Niebulir's  death,  in  spite  of  one  interruption  that  seem- 
ed to  threaten  its  continuance.  While  Perthes  was 
captivated  by  the  noble  character  and  the  cultivated 
intellect  of  the  great  man,  whom  he  seldom  named  ex- 
cept as  "  My  dear  Niebuhr,"  Niebuhr,  on  his  side,  was 
no  less  attracted  by  the  "  glorious  power,"  as  he  was 
wont  to  call  it,  and  the  manly  aptitude  for  the  business 
of  life  that  characterized  his  unlearned  friend.  It  was 
to  the  uncultivated  man  of  business  that  he  sent  his  first 
volume  of  his  Roman  History,  in  1811,  with  these 
words  :  "  I  am  anxious  to  have  your  unreserved  opinion 
of  my  book.  I  do  not  ask  for  a  learned  judgment ;  but 
if  the  great  features  of  the  work  please  you,  I  shall  be 
delighted.  On  some  points  I  fancy  we  are  not  agreed ; 
but  on  others,  I  believe  we  are  quite  at  one." 

To  Perthes'  answer,  Niebuhr  replied  some  months 
later, — "  Your  opinion  of  the  first  volume  of  my  book 
has  been  of  inexpressible  value  to  me.  Do  not  take  it 
as  an  overstrained  compliment,  when  I  say  that  Goe- 
the's praise  and  your  feeling  about  it  suffice  me,  even 
if  hostile  voices  should  be  raised,  as  we  may  naturally 
expect,  at  Gottingen." 

Niebuhr's  intellectual  superiority,  together  with  a 
certain  sharpness  of  manner,  which  not  unfrequently 
broke  through  the  natural  gentleness  of  his  disposition, 
caused  even  men  who  were  themselves  eminent  in  the 
literary  world,  to  feel  a  degree  of  restraint  in  his 
society  ;  and  this  made  the  perfect  freedom,  and  the 
unconstrained  ease  of  Perthes'  intercourse  with  him,  a 
matter  of  surprise.  This  perfect  ease,  which  Perthes 
never  lost,  even  in  his  intercourse  with  the  most  dis- 
tinguished men,  was  owing  partly  to  his  position,  part- 
ly to  his  consciousness  of  desiring  to  pass  for  no  more 


118  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

than  he  was.  His  calling  and  his  whole  career  pre- 
cluded any  expectation  of  learning  or  of  statesmanship, 
and  yet  nevertheless  he  must  have  been  conscious  that 
he  stood  for  something  in  society.  In  a  letter  to  Miil- 
ler  he  thus  expresses  himself  on  this  subject :  "  I  know 
who  and  what  I  am,  and  am  always  anxious  to  reveal 
rather  than  to  conceal  my  ignorance,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent waste  of  time.  Don't,  however,  give  me  to  too* 
much  credit  for  modesty,  for  though  I  am  aware  that 
I  knoio  nothing,  I  am  also  aware  that  I  can  do  much. 

The  terrible  years  1805  and  1806  were  years  of 
animated  correspondence  between  Perthes  and  those 
last-named  friends.  The  greater  part  of  this  has  in- 
deed been  lost,  and  the  letters  written  after  the  battle 
of  Jena,  show  how  heavily  French  espionage  pressed 
upon  epistolary  imtercourse  ;  but  enough  remains  to 
show  the  political  principles  and  the  hopes  by  which 
Perthes  was  animated.  It  was  with  bitter  vexation 
and  deep  sorrow  that  he  witnessed  the  stolid  apathy 
which,  since  the  peace  of  Luneville  and  the  Diet  of 
Ratisbon,  had  fallen  upon  men  who  were  regarded  as  the 
pride  of  Germany,  and  from  which  neither  the  unutter- 
able sufferings  of  their  native  land,  nor  the  audacity 
of  her  tormentors,  could  arouse  them.  He  was  indig- 
nant at  -felie  appearance  of  Goethe's  Eugenie  at  this 
season. 

"  Our  hearts  must  and  should  be  filled  with  shame, 
burning  shame,  at  the  dismemberment  of  our  father- 
land," he  writes  to  Jacobi  in  1804  ;  "  but  what  are  our 
noblest  about  ?  Instead  of  keeping  alive  their  shame, 
and  striving  to  gather  strength,  and  wrath,  and  cour- 
age to  resist  the  oppressor,  they  take  refuge  from  their 
feelings  in  works  of  art!" 


EVENTS    OF   THE    YEARS    1805    AND    1806.          119 

A  new  hope  of  deliverance  dawned,  when,  in  the 
summer  of  1805,  the  report  of  an  alliance  between  Eng- 
land, Russia,  and  Austria,  was  propagated.  But  Per- 
thes saw  with  dismay  the  political  leaders  of  Germany 
array  themselves  on  the  side  of  Napoleon  against  Eng- 
land, and  strive  to  work  upon  the  minds  of  the  people 
through  the  leading  journals.  "  Our  journalists,"  he 
writes,  "  take  up  the  cause  of  the  tyrant  and  the '  Grande 
Natjgn,^  either  from  meanness,  stupidity,  fear,  or  for 
gold.  I  need  name  only  Woltmann,  Archenholz,  Voss, 
and  Buchholz  ;"  and  in  a  letter  to  Miiller  of  the  25th 
of  August,  he  gives  vent  to  his  stifled  feelings.  "  Your 
letter  distressed  me,  by  the  deep  emotions  that  it  stir- 
red in  my  soul.  If  such  men  grow  faint-hearted — what 
then  ?  I  am  not  so  hopeless ;  my  courage,  indeed,  has 
grown  of  late.  True,  I  am  young,  and  not  well  read 
in  history.  From  the  past  you  form  conclusions  as  to 
the  present,  and  so  despond  !  But  has  not  every  peo- 
ple, till  consolidated  into  unity,  been  ready  to  receive 
a  leader,  a  deliverer,  a  saviour  ?  This  readiness  is,  I 
think,  very  observable  among  us.  There  is  a  univer- 
sal panting,  longing,  grasping  after  some  point  (Pappui. 
Much  is  already  cleared  away  ;  I  instance  only  this, — 
the  end  of  the  paper  times.  Twenty  years  more  of 
such  coquetting  with  literature,  such  playing  at  intel- 
lectual development,  such  hawking  of  literary  luxury, 
and  we,  too,  should  have  passed  through  a  siMe  liite- 
raire  still  more  insipid  than  that  of  our  neighbors. 
Are  not  our  youth  now  persuaded  that  the  country 
does  not  exist  to  serve  knowledge,  but  knowledge  to 
serve  the  country  ?  How  many  are  now  convinced 
that  strength  and  virtue  grow  out  of  moral  principles, 
and  are  the  fruit  of  no  other  soil !     Do  not  men  regard 


120  CAROLINE   PEllTHES. 

the  love  and  care  for  their  own  houses  as  more  important 
than  a  widely-diffused  love  capable  of  no  intensity  ? 
Are  they  not  now  disposed  to  honor  a  hearty  and  even 
passionate  love  of  country,  rather  than  a  cold  cosmo- 
politanism ?  And  even  as  regards  religion,  although 
through  the  long-standing  abuse  of  theological  tenets, 
infidelity  and  indifference  have  struck  their  roots  deep 
in  our  soil,  still  the  want  of  religion  is  increasingly 
felt.  I  grant  you  that  a  miracle  must  be  wrougjjt  be- 
fore the  country  or  the  people  can  again  have  a  faith, 
but  then  many,  many  lament  this,  and  would  pray 
without  ceasing  to  revive  the  religion  of  the  nation." 
*'  Ought  we  not  to  feel  ourselves  great,"  he  added, 
''  just  because  we  are  born  in  such  evil  times  ?  " 

"I  can  give  you  but  a  very  imperfect  idea  of  the 
impression  made  by  your  letter,"  wrote  Miiller  in  reply. 
"  You  regard  what  we  see  around  us  as  a  preparation 
for  something  better.  I  wish  it  may  be  so  ;  but  what 
element  of  good  has  ever  been  found  in  a  monstrous 
empire  full  of  the  spirit  of  rapine,  mockery,  and  vain- 
glory ?  The  cold  hand  of  death  is  its  sceptre,  and 
humanity  and  learning  perish  at  its  touch.  And  yet 
that  is  a  sublime  saying  of  yours, — '  Must  we  not  there- 
fore feel  ourselves  great  since  we  are  born  in  such  evil 
times  ?'    You  are  a  man  of  a  rare  soul,  and  I  love  you." 

It  was  but  a  few  weeks  after  this  letter  was  written, 
that  Austria,  she  scarcely  knew  how,  found  herself 
allied  with  Russia  and  drawn  into  the  war  against 
Napoleon  ;  and  on  the  20th  of  October,  the  Austrian 
General  surrendered  his  whole  noble  army  to  the 
French. 

After  the  disastrous  day  of  Ulm,  Perthes  regarded 
all  lost  if  Prussia  persevered  in  her  indecision,  and  much 


EVENTS   OF   THE   YEARS    1805    AND    1806.         121 

gained  if  Prussia,  uniting  her  forces  with  those  of  Russia, 
should  resist  Napoleon.  "  What  are  we  yet  to  pass 
through  ?"  he  writes  to  Miiller  ;  "  what  sufferings,  what 
indignities,  what  degradation,  are  still  in  store  for 
Germany,  and  for  the  world  ?  And  yet  what  oppor- 
tunities Providence  offers  to  men  who  have  energy ! 
Prussia  can  and  must  be  the  deliverer  of  Austria,  even 
at  her  own  peril.  ...  Go  to  the  King  of  Prussia  and 
tell  him  what  he,  as  a  German,  can  do  for  the  freedom 
of  Germany.  Prussia  does  not  stand  in  this  prominent 
position  to  no  purpose.  Let  her  raise  the  standard  of 
Germany  and  all  will  flock  to  it,  and  will  gladly  give 
up  their  cherished  local  independence  and  look  the 
danger  in  the  face,  as  a  united  nation,  rather  than 
become  the  slaves  of  a  people  that  has  suffered  itself  to 
be  made  the  instrument,  by  means  of  which  one  man 
may  reduce  the  whole  earth  to  the  same  degraded 
level.  Should  the  historian  have  eyes  only  behind  him  ? 
Never  was  a  man  so  high  in  his  position  as  you  are. 
You  can  have  no  motive  for  holding  back  when  duty 
says,  Go  forward.  The  anticipation  of  failure,  and 
consequently,  of  doing  something  ridiculous,  is  nothing. 
Does  one  man  know  what  is  in  another,  and  what  there 
is  to  be  aroused  ?  It  is  not  I  who  call  you, — Germany 
calls  you  ;  if  you  knew  our  city  it  would  inspire  you, 
and  be  assured  all  Germany  feels  as  we  do.  This  hour 
is  pregnant  with  greatness  ;  but  it  is  passing  away  and 
will  never  return."  Soon  after  this  he  writes, — "I 
am  not  dispirited  and  will  not  be  ;  free  German  hearts 
will  never  be  wanting,  and  God  will  take  care  of  the 
rest." 

The  battle  of  Austerlitz  was  fought  on  the  2d  of 
December,  1806,  and  on  the  26th  of  the  same  month  the 
6 


122  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

luckless  peace  of  Presburg  was  concluded.  Bavaria 
and  Wiirtemburg  had  assumed  the  kingly  title.  It 
soon  became  certain  that  P  russia,  through  its  commis- 
sioner Haugwitz,  had  pledged  herself  deeply  to  Napo- 
leon. In  January  1806,  Eussian  troops  invaded  the 
Hanoverian  dominions,  and  closed  the  Elbe  against 
England. 

In  July  was  formed  the  Confederation  of  the  Rhine, 
and  thus  the  very  form  of  the  Germanic  Empire  was 
destroyed.  "  Events  have  now  outgrown  all  political 
calculation,"  writes  Miiller.  "  All  customary  expedi- 
ents fail,  and  there  is  no  appearance  of  help  from  any 
quarter.  God  must  remove  one  man,  or  raise  up  a 
greater,  or  bring  about  something  yet  quite  unforeseen. 
I  no  longer  feel  either  indignation  or  fear.  The  scene 
is  become  too  solemn.  The  Ancient  of  Days  is  sitting 
in  judgment ;  the  books  are  opened,  and  the  nations 
and  their  rulers  are  weighed  in  the  balance.  What 
will  be  the  end  ?  A  new  order  of  things  is  in  prepara- 
tion very  different  from  what  is  imagined  by  those  who 
are  the  blind  instruments  of  its  establishment.  That 
which  now  is,  is  not  abiding ;  that  which  was,  will 
hardly  be  restored  :  and  the  difference  will  not  consist 
in  the  mere  substitution  of  Corsican  rule,  for  that  of 
some  weakling  of  Italy,  Germany,  or  Sclavonia." 

By  the  annihilation  of  the  empire,  Hamburgh  had 
become,  from  a  free  imperial  city,  a  sovereign  state. 
Perthes  deslared  that  there  were  but  few  Germans 
who  would  shed  a  tear  over  the  downfall  of  the  empire  ; 
the  majority,  and  that  composed  of  sensible  men  too, 
rejoiced  to  be  relieved  of  their  disbursements  to  Vienna 
and  Ratisbon,  and  believed  that  Hamburgh  would  be 
Hamburgh  still. 


EVENTS   OF   THE   YEARS    1805   AND    1806.         123 

Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Jena,  and  while 
Murat,  Bernadotte,  and  Soult  were  advancing  upon 
Lubeck  in  pursuit  of  Blucher,  Mortier  had  occupied 
Hanover,  and  on  the  19th  of  November,  1806,  marched 
into  Hamburgh.  "  How  you  will  have  mourned  over 
the  fate  of  these  districts,"  writes  Perthes  to  Jacobi, 
"  and  over  that  of  our  city  I  Why  should  I  describe  to 
you  the  awful  fate  of  Lubeck  ?" 

Alarming  accounts  were  now  received  from  all  parts. 
*'  Prussia  will  be  annihilated,"  writes  Niebuhr  from 
Dantzig,  "  and  that  without  leaving  a  single  deed  of 
heroism,  daring,  or  patriotism  on  record." 

"  Our  blunders  are  of  such  a  kind,"  wrote  Scharnhorst 
on  the  11th  of  July,  1807,  "  that  nothing  short  of  a 
miracle  can  save  us." 

From  Berlin,  Miiller  wrote  despairingly  :  "  I  call  to 
mind  the  great  seer  of  antiquity,  who  knew,  by  the 
signs  of  the  times,  that  God  was  about  to  create  a  new 
thing  upon  earth.  Jeremiah  had  wept  himself  blind, 
but  yet  he  saw  that  Asia,  and  also  his  own  people, 
were  given  into  the  hand  of  the  Babylonians,  and  he 
counselled  submission  as  the  only  prudent  course, 
although  even  when  doing  so  he  forgot  neither  his 
country  nor  the  desire  of  his  heart.  In  like  manner, 
in  these  days,  in  this  wonderful  year,  are  the  nations 
taken  as  in  the  net  of  the  fowler  ;  from  Cadiz  to 
Dantzig,  from  Ragusa  to  Hamburgh,  and  soon,  every- 
where, it  will  be  L'Empire  Frangais^  whether  for 
seventy  years  as  in  Babylon,  or  for  seven  hundred  as 
it  was  in  the  case  of  Roman  sway,  who  can  tell  ? 

Immediately  after  the  French  occupation  of  Ham- 
burgh, all  intercourse  with  England  was  prohibited 
on    pain  of   death ;   all  English  property  declared 


124  CAROLINE   PEIITIIES. 

forfeited,  and  all  goods  purchased  from  English 
dealers,  although  paid  for,  were  demanded  from  the 
owners,  and  trade  was  allowed  to  be  carried  on  only 
under  the  restraint  of  a  system  of  certificates.  "  All 
that  was  is  annihilated,"  writes  Perthes  to  Jacobi. 
"  There  is  no  longer  any  trade  as  it  existed  formerly." 
Owing  to  the  general  insolvency  which  followed  the 
issue  of  the  French  regulations,  Perthes's  personal 
losses  involved  all  that  ten  years  of  toil  and  anxiety 
had  realized.  In  Mecklenburg  alone,  he  reckoned 
his  losses  at  20,000  marks.  Still  his  courage  and 
hopefulness  did  not  desert  him. 


XII. 

0^^t&  uuA  MttuU. 


N  those  sad  years  of  political  oppression,  the 
importance  of  the  family  life,  in  all  its  calm 
independence,  revealed  itself  to  many.     It  is 
true,  indeed,  that  the  family  must  always  share 
largely  in  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  the  State  ; 
but  as  in  seasons  of  the  greatest  national  pros- 
perity the  family  has  still  sorrows  of  its  own, 
so  in  a  season  of  national  torpor  and  calamity  it  may 
yet  be  gathering  strength  and  spirit,  and  generating 
courage  and  vigor  for  outward  activity. 

The  darker  the  political  horizon  appeared,  the  more 
gratefully  did  Perthes  acknowledge  the  value  of  the 
gift  that  had  been  bestowed  on  him  in  Caroline. 
His  four  children  were  strong  and  healthy,  and  on  the 
23d  of  January,  1806,  another  son,  John,  was  added 
to  the  number,  and  on  the  15th  of  September,  1807,  a 
daughter,  Dorothea.  The  domestic  sorrows  which  grow 
only  out  of  the  family  were  now,  for  the  first  time,  ex- 
perienced by  Perthes  in  the  death  of  this  infant,  three 
months  later. 

"  Dear  mother,"  wrote  Caroline  immediately  after, 
"  God  has  taken  my  angel  gently  and  calmly  to  Him- 
self.    I  thank  our  heavenly  Father  that  He  has  heard 

(125) 


126  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

my  prayer,  and  taken  my  darling  child  without  pain. 
She  looks  so  peaceful  that  we  must  be  so  too." 

Perthes  had,  as  we  have  seen,  sustained  lieavy  losses 
in  1806  ;  but  the  excitement  of  the  times,  which  left 
so  many  houses  in  anxious  suspense,  or  led  them  to 
cautious  limitations,  afforded  to  liis  bold  and  active 
spirit,  opportunities  of  extending  his  business.  He 
could  say  with  truth,  "  No  one  in  Hamburgh  has  any- 
thing to  do,  but  my  business  is  more  active  than  ever, 
and  I  look  for  a  still  further  extension."  His  library 
was  now  regarded  as  the  finest  in  North  Germany. 
In  1807,  Hiillmann  had  written  from  Frankfort  on  the 
Oder, — "You  have  the  most  extensive  collection  in 
Germany  ;"  and  Niebuhr  had  sportively  called  him 
"  the  king  of  the  booksellers  from  the  Ems  to  the 
Baltic.'' 

The  spirit  that  animated  him,  and  the  domestic 
happiness  which  he  enjoyed  during  those  years  of  ex- 
ternal and  political  suffering,  are  exhibited  in  a  letter 
to  Jacobi  of  October,  1807  :  "  My  mind  becomes  every 
year  stronger  and  more  free,  and  thus  I  am  able  to 
meet  all  events  with  courage  and  cheerfulness.  I  am, 
indeed,  an  ever-erring  mortal,  but  unhappy  I  am  not ; 
I  am,  indeed,  singularly  happy,  for  one  who  has  so 
restless  a  career  allotted  him.  A  multiplicity  of 
interests  for  this  world  and  the  next ; — much  love, 
much  passion,  many  friends,  many  children,  much  labor, 
much  business,  much  to  please,  much  to  displease  me, 
much  anxiety,  and  little  gold  ;  moreover,  a  dozen 
Spaniards  in  the  house,  and  for  the  last  nine  days  three 
gens-d'armes  to  boot,  who  drive  me  almost  to  distrac- 
tion." 

'*  You  ask  how  I  am  and  how  I  get  on,"  he  says  in 


LOSSES    AND   TRIALS.  12T 

another  letter  of  the  same  period  ;  "  I  will  tell  you,  as 
far  as  it  is  safe  to  write  such  things  in  these  times.  I 
am,  then,  rich  in  correspondence.  Countess  Louisa 
Stolberg  writes  to  me  diligently,  and  never  without 
having  something  of  importance  to  communicate.  I 
receive  regularly  every  fortnight  a  letter  from  Johannes 
Miiller  ;  and  Niebuhr,  frank  as  ever,  has  frequently 
something  remarkable  to  communicate.  Here  we  have 
Mar^chal  Brune  for  our  governor,  and  find  ourselves 
tolerably  contented,  as  he  on  his  part  may  well  find 
himself.  The  ci-devant  printer  has  already  paid  his 
compliments  to  the  craft  by  visiting  me.  Old  Zimmer- 
mann  of  Brunswick  is  still  living  at  Altona ;  he  is  one 
of  the  most  sensible  men  I  ever  knew,  and  deeply  in- 
teresting to  me.  I  love  without  trusting  him.  We 
occasionally  see  at  our  own  house,  or  at  Madame 
Sieveking's,  Walmoden,  and  the  young  Countesses  of 
Lippe-Biickeburg,  two  very  interesting  girls,  and  the 
youngest  positively  enchanting.  Besides  these,  there 
are  many  eminent  men  coming  and  going,  who  keep 
life  from  stagnating,  and  put  some  spirit  into  us." 

Bernadotte  made  a  deep  impression  on  Perthes ; 
•'  He  is  in  person,  as  in  many  peculiarities  of  manner 
and  of  habit,"  he  writes,  "  very  like  Jacobi.  He  is  un- 
commonly fond  of  philosophizing.  Yillers  is  often  in 
Hamburgh,  and  likes  it :  he  is  very  dear  to  me  still ; 
but  it  is  singular  that  while  he  will  no  longer  recognize, 
and  cannot  understand  the  French,  he  looks  the  French- 
man all  over." 

To  shut  himself  up  within  the  happy  and  attractive 
circle  of  his  family  and  his  business  was  not,  however 
in  Perthes's  nature  ;  his  inclination  and  the  influence 
of  the  times  led  him  rather  to  take  a  lively  interest  in 


128  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

those  events  which  commanded  the  attention  of  the 
whole  civilized  world.  He  now  began,  like  many 
others,  to  consider  Napoleon  to  be,  and  likely  for  some 
time  to  continue,  an  historical  necessity. 

"  Napoleon,  the  ruler  of  the  earth,  is  a  unity,  and  is 
secure  and  firm  in  himself  as  no  other  is,  because,  more 
than  any  other,  he  seeks  only  himself :  and  like  no 
other,  he  is  a  devil  incarnate,  because,  like  no  other,  he 
has  made  himself  his  god.  *  He  does  not  will,  he  is 
willed,'  said  Baggesen  to  me,  with  striking  emphasis." 

To  this  demon-like  man  Perthes  believed  the  world 
given  over  by  God — not  to  continue  subject  to   his 
sway,  but  that  through  suffering,  even  of  the   most 
dreadful  kind,  the  paralyzed  energy  of  goodness  might 
be  resuscitated.     All  that  was,"  he  says,  "  is  ruined  ; 
what  new  edifice  will  rise  on  the  ruins  I  know  not ; 
but  the  most  fearful  result  of  all  would  be  the  restora- 
tion of  the  old  enfeebled  time  with  its  shattered  forms. 
By  a  practical  path  of  suffering  and  distress,  God  is 
leading  us  to  a  new  order  of  things  ;  the  game  can- 
not be  played  backwards,  therefore  onward  must  be 
the  word.     Let  that  which  cannot  stand,  fall.     Noth- 
ing can  escape  the  crisis,  and  it  is  some  consolation  to 
see  that  events  are  greater  than  the  circumstances  that 
called  them  forth.     He  who  would  now  turn  the  wheel 
backwards  cares  only  for  repose,  comfort,  and  private 
happiness,  and  to  these  indeed  the  times  are  not  favor- 
able ;  but  to  such  things  Providence  cannot  accommo- 
date itself.   We  should  rather  consider  ourselves  to  be 
the  growth  of  the  epoch  ;  and  who  could  expect  to 
compress  the  beginning  and  end  of  such  a  revolution 
into  one  lifetime  ?" 

Despairing  of  external  help,  and  expecting  nothing 


LOSSES   AND   TRIALS.  129 

from  the  existing  governments  of  Germany,  Perthes 
centred  all  his  hopes  for  the  German  people  in  their 
unity. 

"  Whatever  may  be  impending  over  Germany,"  he 
says  in  another  letter  written  after  the  surrender  of 
Ulm,  "  our  first  object  must  be,  where  special  pro- 
vincial interests  still  exist,  to  arouse  the  national 
German  feeling  and  to  keep  it  alive,  bringing  it  more 
and  more  into  the  consciousness  of  the  people." 

The  spirit  to  stake  all  in  a  worthy  cause  was  inborn 
in  Perthes  ;  once  aroused  to  action,  he  knew  no  re- 
treat. "  And  I  thank  God,"  he  writes,  "  that  I  have  a 
wife  who  shares  my  feelings,  and  who,  if  it  come  to 
the  worst,  will  not  shake  my  courage.  He  who  has  in 
him  any  element  of  intellect  or  power,  of  greatness  or 
passion,  cannot  but  turn  his  attention  to  what  is  now 
passing  around  him,  in  order,  so  far  as  he  can,  to  influ- 
ence the  direction  of  events.  He  who  has  only  an  in- 
ward life  in  these  times,  has  no  life  at  all." 

Perthes,  however,  was  too  practical  and  clear-sighted 
to  involve  himself  enthusiastically  in  any  undefined 
and  ill-digested  plans.  He  well  knew  that  every  deed 
of  violence,  and  every  individual  act  of  resistance  to 
the  existing  state  of  things,  was  mere  madness,  and 
was  also  criminal,  notwithstanding  the  dissolution  of 
political  order.  He  knew,  moreover,  that  it  was  im- 
possible for  any  private  individual  to  have  any  direct 
influence  on  the  attitude  of  statesmen  and  govern- 
ments, or  on  the  political  supremacy  of  armies  and  of 
gold.  Still  he  regarded  it  as  the  right  and  the  duty 
of  every  German  to  arouse  and  to  strengthen,  by  every 
possible  means,  the  hatred  and  the  exasperation  of  the 
Germans  against  the  oppressor.  Yet  even  here  it 
6* 


130  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

was  impossible  to  his  practical  nature  to  stand,  as  it 
were,  beating  the  air  in  his  attempts  to  act  upon 
others  ;  he  must  work  from  a  centre,  and  that  centre 
he  found  in  his  calling  as  a  German  book-seller.  He 
regarded  it  as  his  first  duty  to  provide  for  the  printing 
and  the  general  diffusion  of  the  most  weighty  and 
stirring  writings  of  men  animated  by  true  German 
feeling. 

Sensible  at  the  same  time  that  isolated  individuals 
could  exert  but  little  influence  on  the  great  mass  of 
the  people,  Perthes  regarded  it  as  the  duty  of  all  who 
felt  themselves  capable  in  any  way  of  arousing  the  spirit 
of  the  nation,  to  unite  in  some  definite  association. 

Perthes  had  thought  of  Johannes  Miiller  as  the 
intellectual  centre  of  a  league  of  German  patriots. 
Miiller  was  thoroughly  well  informed  as  to  the  con- 
dition of  Western  Germany,  and  the  secrets  of  Aus- 
trian and  Prussian  policy.  He  had  the  most  extensive 
acquaintance  with  German  statesmen,  and  with  literary 
men  of  all  shades  of  opinion  :  he  was  highly  and  uni- 
versally respected  ;  and  both  as  a  man  and  as  an 
author,  he  had  shown  that  he  was  ready  and  resolved 
to  act  for  Germany  and  against  Napoleon  when  the 
time  should  come.  There  was  no  man  who  seemed  so 
well  suited  as  he  to  be  the  soul  of  the  desired  Germanic 
Union.  But  the  results  of  the  war  of  1806  forced  him 
into  a  different  path.  When  Berlin  was  occupied  by 
the  French,  Miiller  did  not  leave  the  city  :  Napoleon 
invited  him  to  an  interview,  and  he  wrote  in  high 
spirits  to  Bottiger  at  Dresden,  that  he  had  talked  for 
an  hour  and  a  half  with  the  conqueror  about  all  the 
great  events  of  history,  and  all  the  great  subjects  of 
politics.    Miiller  now  delivered  his  celebrated  oration 


LOSSES   AND   TRIALS.  131 

on  the  glory  of  Frederick  at  the  Academy  of  Sciences, 
went  in  the  autumn  of  1807  to  Paris,  and  early  in 
1808  to  Cassel  as  Secretary  of  State,  and  Minister  to 
the  King  of  Westphalia.  "  I  shall  no  more  forget 
Germany,"  he  said,  "  than  Daniel — who  was  never 
thought  the  worse  of  for  having  taken  office  at  Baby- 
lon— forgot  Jerusalem  in  that  foreign  court." 

But  this  change  placed  Perthes  in  a  very  painful 
position.  He  had  loved  Miiller,  and  a  man  whom  he 
had  onced  loved,  it  was  almost  impossible  for  him  to 
cease  to  reverence.  "  Give  utterance  to  no  harsh 
judgment  against  Mtlller,"  he  says  in  a  letter  to  Max 
Jacobi  ;  "  you  have  never  seen  him,  and  one  must  have 
seen  him  to  recognize  his  greatness,  to  know  his  good- 
ness, and  to  have  the  key  to  all  his  weaknesses  and 
failings."  Perthes  had  regarded  Miiller  as  a  man  who 
meant  truly  and  well  to  his  fellow-countrymen,  and  he 
still  believed  that  he  had  associated  himself  with  the 
foreigner  in  order  to  work  for  Germany  in  the  only 
way  which  was  left  open  to  him. 

"As  to  the  manner  in  which  you  will  shape  your 
future,"  he  writes,  "  I  have  no  fears.  As  surely  as  I 
know  what  right  is,  so  surely  am  I  persuaded  that  you 
will  do  nothing  that  can  lead  you  to  forget  what  you 
owe  to  yourself.  I  believe  that  you  will  take  office 
dans  V Empire  Franc^ais  f^  and  he  adds,  sorrowfully, 
"  where  else  could  you  take  office  ?"  Again  he  writes, 
''  Your  criticism  of  the  Rhenish  Confederation  is  fine, 
sensible,  and  spirited.  It  is  the  business  of  the  scholar 
and  spokesman  of  the  country  to  take  the  nation 
under  his  protection  in  whatever  form  it  is  compelled 
to  assume,  and  to  give  utterapce  to  its  rights  and  its 
nationality,"    When  Miiller^s  appointment  to  CasseJ 


132  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

was  decided,  Perthes  writes  thus:— "God  give  you 
strength,  and  arm  your  heart  and  mind  with  firmness. 
That  is  my  special  prayer  for  you.  I  would  not  be 
the  last  to  congratulate  you  on  the  important  work 
now  before  you.  What  we  expect  of  you  is,  that  you 
stand  forward  as  the  peacemaker,  the  comforter,  and 
the  arouser  of  your  country.  Such  a"  destiny  as  yours 
is  rare.  I  know  your  piety  too  well  not  to  be  assured 
that  you  recognize  in  all  this  the  hand  of  the  highest 
wisdom."  And  when  Miiller  had  undertaken  the 
Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  in  Westphalia,  Perthes 
writes — "  Happen  what  may,  you  can  and  will  be  a 
laborer  in  the  Lord's  vineyard.  You  are  called  to 
preside  over  those  establishments  and  institutions 
which  are  the  special  organs  of  the  German  mind  and 
people.  May  God  strengthen  and  preserve  you  for 
the  work  ;  I  have  never  distrusted  you,  and  I  have 
pledged  myself  for  your  fidelity  and  your  truth." 

But  notwithstanding  this  personal  confidence,  Per- 
thes could  not  mistake  the  nature  of  the  impression 
that  the  conduct  of  Miiller  had  made  on  the  people  at 
large.  *'To  me,"  he  says  to  Jacobi  in  1807,  "to  me 
he  is  what  he  ever  was,  but  he  is  certainly  wrong,  and 
is  now  lost  to  Germany."  And  shortly  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Jena,  he  writes  to  Miiller  himself,  "Your  letter 
was  a  great  source  of  consolation  to  my  friendship  ;  I 
believe  with  you  that  God  has  delivered  the  earth 
into  the  hands  of  Napoleon  the  Great,  and  that  he  is 
therefore  invincible.  We  must  have  patience  with 
the  noble-minded  of  the  nation.  Your  influence  with 
the  people  is  no  more.     This  should  not  have  been." 

Perthes  himself  was  also  greatly  distressed,  not  by 
any  doubt  as  to  the  uprightness  of  Miiller,  but  as  to 


LOSSES   AND   TRIALS.  133 

the  correctness  of  the  principles  on  which  he  had  acted, 
Miiller,  dazzled  by  the  unparalleled  successes  of  Na- 
poleon, had  given  up  all  for  lost,  and  regarded  him  as 
the  instrument  chosen  by  God  for  establishing  a  new 
order  of  things  in  the  world.  He  believed  it  impos- 
sible to  form  any  idea  of  what  lay  hidden  behind  the 
curtain  of  futurity,  and  he  viewed  it  as  mere  folly  to 
oppose  himself  to  this  future.  He  felt  that  duty  called 
him  to  consider  how  the  intellectual  energy  lavished 
on  the  past  might  best  be  employed  in  the  service  of 
the  present.  The  earth  was  given  to  Napoleon  ;  that 
was  fate,  the  finger  of  God  was  there.  ''It  is  God 
who  sets  up  governments  ;  who,  then,  is  at  liberty  to 
set  himself  against  them  ? ''  he  exclaimed,  "  Men  must 
rather  accommodate  themselves  to  them,  and  seek  to 
make  the  best  of  things  as  a  whole  ;  not  allowing 
themselves  to  degenerate,  but  awaiting  patiently  the 
further  development  of  events  over  which  they  have 
no  control." 

In  March,  1807,  Perthes  had  communicated  to  Miil- 
ler in  a  letter,  all  the  anxieties  and  torturing  doubts 
that  agitated  him  on  his  account.  "  A  whole  friend  or 
no  friend,' '  he  writes,  "  is  my  motto,  and  I  therefore 
feel  compelled  to  tell  you  all  that  I  see  and  hear  about 
you.  These  things  have  given  me  many  a  sad  week, 
and  I  have  occasionally  been  quite  overcome.  They 
declaim  about  hypocrisy,  falsehood,  treachery  to  the 
cause  of  freedom  and  fatherland  :  and  it  is  not  only 
the  rabble  yielding  to  the  popular  feeling  of  the  day 
who  do  so  ;  but  men,  who  still  love  and  honor  you, 
weep  and  lament  over  the  grave  of  Johannes  Miiller." 
*'  Believe  me,"  he  writes  again,  "  amid  all  the  troubles 
of  these  uncertain  and  disturbed  times,  your  present 


134  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

relation  to  your  country  is  to  me  one  of  the  most  pain- 
ful. The  nation,  believe  me,  is  in  perplexity  and  with- 
out leaders,  and  knows  not  if  in  future  it  is  to  hear 
your  voice  or  not.  I  torture  you — but  I  must  have 
ceased  to  respect  myself  and  to  love  you,  before  I  could 
refrain  from  speaking.  God  be  with  you  and  with  us 
all !  The  judgment  of  God  will  soon  be  given  :  I  feel 
that  I  have  still  spirit  and  strength  to  be  German, 
whatever  turn  things  may  take,  and  I  trust  that  the 
road  we  are  to  follow  will  shortly  be  clear  to  us  all." 


XIII 


ORTIER  had  taken  possession  of  Ham- 
burgh on  the  19th  of  November,  1806,  but 
it  had  remained  a  free  sovereign  city,  al- 
though occupied  by  the  troops  of  Napoleon. 
French,  Italian,  Dutch,  Spanish,  or  German 
legions,  under  imperial  generals,  succeeded 
each  other.  Externally  every  vestige  of 
independence  was  gone  ;  but  the  internal  administra- 
tion of  the  city,  as  in  the  towns  of  the  Rhenish  Con- 
federation, remained  in  the  hands  of  the  former  mag- 
istracy, subject,  however,  to  the  French  code.  The 
revenues  of  Hamburgh  being  derived  wholly  from  its 
commerce,  its  territory  being  of  no  importance,  were 
entirely  annihilated  by  the  continental  system.  More 
than  three  hundred  Hamburgh  vessels  were  now  lying 
unrigged  in  the  harbor,  and  the  Assurance  Companies 
sustained,  in  the  course  of  the  three  years  following 
the  occupation,  a  loss  of  twenty  millions  of  francs. 
While  trade  returns  were  thus  incalculably  diminished, 
the  130,000  persons  who  made  up  the  population  of  the 
city  and  its  territory,  were  given  up  to  the  unprece- 
dented extortions  of  the  French  Government,  and 
the  shameless  exactions  of  the  French  officials,  among 
whom  Bourrienne  attained  an  infamous   distinction. 

(135) 


136  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Many  wealthy  men  left  Hamburgh,  that  they  might 
not  lose  what  they  had,  and  those  that  remained  went 
about  in  sullen  sadness,  tortured  by  anxiety  and  want. 

Yague  reports  of  great  preparations  in  Austria,  and 
of  associations  of  resolute  men  in  Prussia  and  West- 
phalia, reached  Hamburgli,  and  kept  Perthes  in  a  state 
of  continual  excitement. 

At  Easter,  1809,  he  went  as  usual  to  Leipzig.  "  I 
rejoice  that  I  have  come  here,"  he  writes  to  his  wife  ; 
"  you  would  hardly  imagine  the  general  unanimity, 
Germany  was  never  before  so  united." 

On  the  25th  of  April  the  news  of  the  series  of  victo- 
ries in  which  Napoleon,  on  the  18th,  19th,  and  20th  of 
that  month,  had  defeated  Austria,  arrived  at  Leipzig. 
"  Yesterday  evening  we  got  the  tidings  of  the  lost 
battles,"  he  writes,  "  and  with  the  greatest  precipita- 
tion the  people  illuminated." 

The  battle  of  Wagram,  fought  on  the  6th  of  July, 
and  the  peace  of  Yienna,  signed  on  the  14th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1809,  confirmed  the  dominion  of  Napoleon. 

There  appeared  but  one  means  of  developing  German 
nationality,  without  running  the  risk  of  exposing  it  to 
the  prying  eye  and  crushing  power  of  the  enemy. 
Science,  so  long  as  it  was  only  science.  Napoleon 
neither  feared  nor  regarded  ;  and  for  centuries  inde- 
pendent scientific  life  had  been  one  of  the  essential 
characteristics  of  Germany  as  a  nation.  This  con- 
sciousness of  scientific  independence  and  unity  was  not 
indeed  sufficient  of  itself  to  upliold  the  national  spirit, 
but  it  might  help  to  do  so  ;  it  might  be  the  veil  beneath 
which  the  national  hatred  of  the  tyrant  might  gather 
strength  ;  it  might  be  the  undisputed  medium  of  com- 
munication between  patriotic  men  in  all  parts  of  Ger- 


THE   FRENCH   IN   HAMBURGH.  137 

many,  who,  thus  prepared,  might,  when  the  hour  for 
action  came,  be  found  armed  with  other  weapons  than 
those  of  science. 

In  the  months  following  the  fresh  conquest  of  Aus- 
tria, Perthes  had  sought  consolation  for  the  present, 
in  the  history  of  the  past.  It  appeared  to  him  that  the 
period  of  the  Reformation,  on  account  of  the  great 
changes  that  it  was  the  means  of  effecting — and  that 
of  the  Italian  Republics,  on  account  of  the  political 
divisions  of  a  spirited  people — presented  analogies 
with  the  circumstances  of  Germany  since  the  outbreak 
of  the  Revolutionary  war.  "  For  the  inner  life  of  the 
sixteenth  century,"  he  writes,  "  I  committed  myself  to 
Benvenuto  Cellini,  and  then  Robertson's  '  Charles  Y' 
was  my  guide.  I  have  learned  that  a  steadfast  purpose 
and  will,  that  calm  reflection  and  the  attainment  of 
great  objects,  are  possible  even  in  times  of  the  most 
terrible  outward  disturbance  and  revolution.  Sis- 
mondi's  '  Italian  Republics'  delights  and  cheers  me  at 
present.  For  centuries  Italy  was  without  a  centre  of 
influence  and  without  political  cohesion  ;  but  in  the 
little  circle  of  those  republics  there  was  power  ;  there 
were  men  of  understanding  ;  and  Italy  flourished  anew 
and  produced  men  of  deathless  spirit,  the  memory  of 
whose  glorious  deeds  is  imperishable.  And  should  we 
despair  ?  No  !  although  our  previous  hopes  have  died 
away,  I  am  still  full  of  confidence  ;  I  love  my  father- 
land— have  often  prayed,  often  trembled,  and  would 
have  fought  for  it,  had  there  been  hope  of  achieving 
aught.  '  I  am,'  to  use  Adam  Miiller's  expression, '  af- 
flicted with  the  disease  of  patriotic  madness,'  and, 
therefore,  not  in  despair  ;  but  feel  strongly  convinced 
that  although  the  old  form  of  the  Germanic  Empire  is 


138  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

fallen  to  pieces,  the  future  history  of  Germany  is  never- 
theless, not  destined  to  be  the  history  of  its  downfall, 
if  every  one  does  what  he  can  in  his  own  station  :  I, 
for  my  part,  shall  try  what  I  can  do  in  mine  :"  individ- 
uals can,  and  will  do  much. 

It  was  only  through  his  own  calling  that  Perthes 
hoped,  individually,  to  be  able  to  accomplish  anything. 
"  The  German  newspapers,"  writes  Perthes  to  Jacobi, 
"  are,  with  few  exceptions,  in  bad  hands.  Some  are 
deliberately  bad  in  their  objects  ;  others,  having  been 
established  solely  for  gain,  seek  only  to  please  the  pal- 
ates of  their  customers  with  the  most  recent  novelty. 
Such  a  state  of  things  is  at  all  times  lamentable ;  in 
our  own  times,  it  is  alarming.  It  is  important,  since 
things  will  tell  only  when  uttered  at  the  proper  mo- 
ment, that  Germans  should  know  where  they  can  at 
once  bring  before  the  public  anything  which  demands 
and  deserves  publicity.  A  journal,  appearing  at  short 
intervals,  which  shall  uphold  the  vital  union  of  all 
German-souled  men,  is  a  pressing  want.  I  have  this 
object  at  heart,  and  my  position  is  favorable  ;  the  first 
men  of  Germany  are  known  to  me  either  personally  or 
by  connection,  and  I  am  sure  of  their  cooperation, 
while  my  shop  offers  facilities  for  the  publication  such 
as  are  nowhere  else  to  be  met  with.  But  perhaps  you 
will  say.  What  avails  your  having  it  at  heart  ? — dare 
you  do  it  ?  I  answer  with  Jean  Paul,  '  The  silence  of 
fear  is  not  to  be  excused  by  the  plea  of  coercion.' 
There  are  many  things  that  may  be  said,  even  under 
the  government  of  Napoleon,  if  only  we  learn  liow  to 
say  them,  and  take  care  not  to  overlook  the  good  we 
have  because  of  our  hatred  of  the  foreign  medium 
through  which  it  comes  to  us.    Indeed,  there  is  much 


THE   FRENCH   IN   HAMBURGH.  189 

to  be  learned  from  the  French,  and  it  is  the  native  ten- 
dency of  the  German  mind,  to  recognize  and  assimilate 
the  good  from  whatever  source  it  may  come.  The  new 
journal  shall  be  called  the  *  The  National  Museum.^ 
It  must  not  be  prohibited,  and  must,  therefore,  be  char- 
acterized, especially  at  the  outset,  by  caution  and  cir- 
cumspection ;  it  must,  at  the  same  time,  be  read,  and 
its  object  and  tendency  must,  therefore,  be  evident  to 
Germans.  I  shall  go  quietly  forward  in  the  firm  con- 
viction of  reaching  the  goal,  and,  probably,  without 
interruption." 

Towards  the  end  of  November,  1809,  Perthes  began 
to  send  the  prospectus  of  his  "  National  Museum"  to  all 
parts  of  Germany,  wherever  men  were  to  be  found  of 
whose  patriotism  and  intelligence  he  had  knowledge. 
In  the  private  letters  that  accompanied  it,  many  of 
which  have  been  preserved,  we  find  him  presenting  the 
enterprise  to  each  in  the  point  of  view  that  seemed 
most  likely  to  attract  him.  To  one  he  urges  the  pro- 
motion of  German  science  ;  to  another  the  efi'ect  which 
such  a  periodical  would  exercise  over  the  public  mind  ; 
to  a  third  the  encouragement  which  the  journal  might 
afford  to  patriotic  men  who  had  been  abandoned  and 
oppressed  by  their  respective  governments,  to  reserve 
themselves  for  better  times.  To  some  he  set  himself 
to  prove  that  a  scientific  association  was  the  only 
possible  bond  of  union  in  Germany,  and  that  German 
Science  should  hold  the  first  place  in  the  '  National 
Museum  ;^  while  to  a  few,  such  as  Jean  Paul,  he  opened 
his  whole  heart. 

He  trusted  that  an  alliance,  unsuspected  by  their 
oppressors,  might  thus  be  formed  among  those  who 
were  called  to  be  the  intellectual  leaders  of  Germany, 


140  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

every  member  of  which,  according  to  his  ability  and  his 
position,  might,  without  attracting  observation,  act  as 
a  centre  of  influence.  When  the  right  time  came,  the 
scientific  alliance  was  to  be  transformed  into  a  politi- 
cal one  possessing  the  strength  and  union  necessary  for 
vigorous  action.  In  order  to  extend  this  union  as 
widely  as  possible  among  the  people,  the  literature  of 
Germany  was  to  be  presented  in  all  its  aspects.  Ru- 
mohr  was  applied  to  for  information  relating  to  the 
works  of  ancient  German  art ;  Wilken  for  old  nation- 
al manners  and  customs,  and  for  the  truth  or  falsehood 
of  the  diversities  of  North  and  South  Germany  ;  Feu- 
erbach  was  to  write  on  German  law  and  jurisprudence  ; 
Augustus  William  Schlegel  on  German,  and  Freder- 
ick Schlegel  specially  on  Austrian  literature  ;  Sailer, 
at  Landshut,  on  the  religious  life  of  German  Catholi- 
cism ;  Marheineke,  of  Heidelberg,  on  the  importance  of 
the  German  pulpit ;  Schleiermacher  on  the  philosoph- 
ical, and  Plank  on  the  historical  theology  of  Germany. 
Schelling  was  reminded,  by  a  reference  to  his  oration 
on  the  Plastic  Arts,  how  well  he  could  adapt  himself 
to  the  public  mind,  and  Gentz  was  recommended  not  to 
keep  silence,  because  he  could  not  utter  all  he  might 
wish.  Innumerable  answers  poured  in  from  the  cities 
and  from  the  most  remote  corners  of  Germany  ;  and 
there  were  few  that  did  not  express  enthusiasm  for  the 
undertaking,  and  gratitude  to  the  man  who  had  planned 
it. 

Goethe,  however,  declined  participation  : — "  I  must, 
though  reluctantly,  decline  to  take  part  in  so  well- 
meant  an  institution,"  was  his  reply.  "  I  have  every 
reason  for  concentrating  myself  in  order  to  meet,  in 
any  measure,  my  obligations  ;  moreover,  the  character 


THE   FRENCH   IN   HAMBURGH.  141 

of  our  times  is  such  that  I  prefer  to  let  it  pass  before 
I  speak  either  of  it  or  to  it.  Forgive  me,  then,  for  de- 
clining to  share  in  the  undertaking,  and  let  me  hear 
frequently  how  it  succeeds."  Count  F.  L.  Stolberg, 
on  the  other  hand,  writes,  "  I  rejoice  to  associate  my- 
self with  you  and  yours,  dear  Perthes,  and  I  need  not 
say  how  highly  I  love  and  honor  the  boldness  of  your 
Address.  Those  parts  of  the  announcement  intended 
for  the  public  cannot  but  appear  somewhat  constrained, 
but  that  is  of  no  consequence  :  the  unpractised  reader 
will  not  observe  it,  the  practised  will  at  once  detect 
the  reason,  and  the  patriotic  will  be  deej)ly  indebted 
to  you."  The  numerous  replies  which  he  received 
from  his  widely  scattered  correspondents  breathed 
similar  warmth  and  cordiality. 

The  •'  Museum"  made  its  appearance  in  the  spring  of 
1810.  It  contained  contributions  from  Jean  Paul, 
Count  F.  L.  Stolberg,  Claudius,  and  Fouqu6,  with  pos- 
thumous papers  of  Klopstock  ;  essays  by  Heeren,  Sar- 
torius,  Htillmann,  and  Frederick  Schlegel,  by  Gorres 
and  Arndt,  Scheffner  and  Tischbein,  and  many  other 
eminent  men. 

Although  Perthes  was  forced  to  confess  that  but  lit- 
tle of  what  he  would  fain  utter  could  be  said  in  the 
pages  of  the  "  Museum,"  its  reception  far  exceeded  his 
expectations  ;  but  the  labor  involved  in  editing  it, 
combined  with  the  great  political  excitement  to  which 
he  was  exposed,  and  the  continual  efforts  for  the  ex- 
tension of  his  business,  almost  exceeded  the  limits  of 
human  strength. 

Joys  and  sorrows  in  the  family,  too,  added  to  his 
anxiety.  On  the  2d  of  March,  1809,  his  son  Clement 
was  born.     "  We  rejoice  in  the  birth  of  a  boy,"  he 


142  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

writes  ;  "  through  the  youth  now  growing  up  weinay 
exert  an  influence  on  the  future,  which  we  cannot  exer- 
cise upon  the  present."  His  daughter  Eleonora  came 
into  the  world  on  the  4th  of  April,  1810  ;  while  his 
second  son,  Johannes,  a  lively  and  promising  boy,  had 
been  removed  by  death  on  the  18th  of  December,  1809. 
"  His  heart  was  overflowing  with  love  and  merriment," 
wrote  Caroline,  "  so  that  he  was  our  joy  and  delight. 
We  yearn  after  him,  and  cannot  yet  fully  believe  that 
we  must  continue  our  prilgrimage  without  him  ;  we 
have  but  a  melancholy  pleasure  in  the  blessings  that 
God  has  left  us." 

After  many  years  of  labor,  Perthes  snatched  a  short 
interval  of  leisure  to  revisit  the  beloved  Schwartzburg 
home.  The  two  younger  children  were  committed  to 
the  care  of  their  Wandsbeck  grandparents,  and  in  the 
beginning  of  July,  1810,  Perthes  and  Caroline  set  out 
with  the  other  four,  by  Brunswick  and  Naumburg  to 
Thuringia. 

From  Schwartzburg  Caroline  wrote  to  her  mother, 
— "  Would  that  I  could  describe  to  you  the  grandeur, 
the  beauty,  the  loveliness  of  this  country  ;  but  words 
can  convey  no  idea  of  it.  I  thank  God  that  we  are 
capable  of  feeling  more  than  we  can  express  :  speech 
is  but  a  poor  thing  when  we  are  in  earnest.  The  hills 
and  valleys  of  Thuringia  impress  one  just  in  the  right 
way.  I  love  them,  and  shall  remember  them  with 
affection  while  I  live.  It  is  too  much,  I  sometimes 
think,  and  one  has  no  power  to  repress  the  excitement 
which  this  scenery  stirs  in  the  heart.  In  our  flat 
country,  we  cannot  attain  to  such  a  height  of  joy  in 
the  Lord  of  this  glorious  Nature,  or  to  such  intense 
gratitude  towards  Him,  as  are  possible  in  the  midst  of 


THE   FRENCH   IN   HAMBURGH.  143 

scenes  like  these  ;  and  I  consider  that  it  is  a  great  gift 
that  the  good  God  has  permitted  me  to  see  all  this,  while 
yet  on  earth.  The  valley  of  Schwartzburg  surpasses 
all  the  rest.  There  is  an  inconceivable  wealth  of  min- 
gled grandeur  and  beauty  about  it  which  rivets  the 
spectator  to  the  spot,  and  compels  him  to  stretch  out 
his  arms  in  adoration  of  the  Creator  and  Sustainer  of 
all  this  wondrous  work.  On  the  one  side  are  vast 
masses  of  rock,  piled  one  upon  another  ;  on  the  other, 
hills  of  surpassing  loveliness,  adorned  with  meadows, 
houses,  men,  and  cattle  ;  in  the  midst  of  all,  the 
Schwarza  runs  clear  and  sparkling,  rushing  and  roar- 
ing bravely,  far  below  in  the  hollow.  Our  reception 
was  very  agreeable  ;  we  had  left  the  carriage,  and 
were  walking  towards  Schwartzburg  ;  suddenly,  from 
behind  the  rock,  the  lieutenant-colonel  made  his  ap- 
pearance, and  caught  Perthes  in  his  arms.  My  beloved 
Perthes,  thus  disturbed  in  the  tranquil  current  of  his 
thoughts,  forgot  nature  like  the  rest  of  us  in  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  reunion.  This  lieutenant-colonel  is  a  fine, 
vigorous,  frank,  and  very  dear  old  man,  and  I  already 
like  him  much.  When  we  had  walked  a  few  paces 
farther,  we  came  to  a  broad,  flat  rock  on  which  a 
breakfast,  brought  in  his  own  game-bag,  was  spread. 
He -was  quite  overjoyed,  and  never  weary  of  recount- 
ing the  pleasure  he  had  experienced  long  ago,  in  walk- 
ing tours  and  fowling  expeditions  with  Perthes.  A 
little  further  on  we  met  the  other  uncle  with  his  troop 
of  children ;  we  packed  the  little  folk  into  the  car- 
riage, and  walked  slowly  after  it.  The  very  depths 
of  my  soul  are  stirred  when  I  perceive  the  great  and 
general  happiness  which  the  return  of  my  Perthes  has 
diffused  ;  my  dear  Perthes  himself  is  like  a  child  with 


144  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

delight,  and  I  thank  God  that  He  has  let  us  live  to  see 
this  time.  They  live  the  past  over  again,  and  are  all 
twenty  years  younger." 

After  a  stay  of  a  few  weeks,  Perthes  proceeded  with 
his  wife  and  children  to  Gotha,  the  home  of  Justus 
Perthes,  his  paternal  uncle. 

"  Here,  too,"  wrote  Caroline,  "  we  were  received  with 
inexpressible  kindness,  but  our  dear  Thuringian  hills 
are  now  only  seen  in  the  distance.  The  children  long 
for  the  freedom  of  the  woods,  and  to  speak  the  truth, 
so  do  I ;  and  it  is  with  difficulty  that  I  can  conceal  my 
feelings.  We  had  quite  forgotten  the  French  in  our 
beloved  woods ;  but  here  we  are  daily  reminded  of 
them.  For  months  cannon  of  enormous  calibre  had 
been  passing  through  the  town  from  Dantzig  and  Mag- 
deburg on  their  way  to  Paris.  Ah  !  here  we  have  the 
world  and  artificial  life  with  all  their  annoyances,  con- 
tinually suggested  to  us ;  there  is  no  place  like  hills 
and  woods  for  forgetting  ourselves  and  all  our  wants 
and  infirmities." 

They  returned  to  Hamburgh  by  way  of  Cassel  and 
Gottingen.  "A  journey  such  as  we  have  enjoyed," 
writes  Perthes  to  Schwartzburg,  "  is  a  real  picture  of 
life  ;  but  that  part  of  a  journey  which  remains  aftei 
the  travelling,  is,  properly  speaking,  the  journey.  This 
still  remains  with  us." 

Ere  long,  rumors  were  afloat  of  new  and  violent 
changes  contemplated  by  Napoleon  in  the  German 
governments.  The  French  Ambassador,  Reinhard,  had 
been  in  Hamburgh  ever  since  the  autumn  of  1809,  in 
order  to  settle  the  final  destiny  of  the  city.  "  He  holds 
continual  conferences,"  writes  Perthes,  "  with  deputies 
and  others,  as  to  the  maintenance  and  perpetuation  of 


THE   FRENCH   IN   HAMBURGH.  145 

the  Hanse-towDS.  The  Emperor,  after  hearing  the  real 
state  of  matters,  is  to  determine  the  future  of  the  cities." 
More  than  a  year  after  this  letter  was  written,  and 
just  before  Christmas,  1810,  the  decision  of  the  French 
Senate  was  announced  at  Hamburgh.  The  Hanse- 
towns  with  the  whole  north-west  of  Germany  were 
henceforward  to  be  considered  as  forming  part  of  the 
French  Empire.  "  Hamburgh,  built  by  Charles  the 
Great,"  so  ran  the  decree,  "  was  no  longer  to  be  de- 
prived of  the  happiness  to  which  it  had  a  hereditary 
right,  of  acknowledging  the  supremacy  of  his  greater 
successor." 

Hamburgh  had  now  become  a  French  city,  and  its 
burghers  subjects  of  Napoleon.  At  the  same  time, 
Perthes,  finding  the  impossibility  of  carrying  out  his 
original  object,  in  the  form  which  it  had  up  to  this  time 
assumed,  gave  up  the  "  National  Museum.'^ 

"  My  sole  aim  in  the  establishment  of  this  journal," 
he  says,  at  the  close  of  the  last  part,  "  was  to  unite  the 
well-disposed  and  wisest  of  our  countrymen,  and  en- 
able them  to  contribute,  by  teaching  and  counsel,  in  a 
variety  of  forms,  to  th<i  maintenance  of  that  wrhich  is 
of  peculiar. worth  in  Germans,  namely,  energy,  truth, 
literature,  and  religion.  Now  that,  as  an  inhabitant 
of  Hamburgh,  I  am,  by  the  recent  incorporation,  made 
a  subject  of  the  French  Emperor,  the  obligations 
thereby  imposed  are  incompatible  with  this  object,  and 
the  '  German  Museum '  can  no  longer  be  carried  on  by 
me."  "  Your  '  Museum '  is  indeed  silenced,"  wrote 
Nicolovius,  "  but  its  spirit  still  lives,  and  will  yet  re- 
dound to  the  glory  of  you  and  your  endeavors." 

He  who  now,  after  the  lapse  of  years,  gives  a  glance 
at  the  contents  of  the  "  German  Museum,"  cannot  fail 
7 


146  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

to  be  impressed  with  a  sense  of  German  ability  and 
honesty  ;  but  only  tliose  who  can  recall  the  iron  pres- 
sure of  that  period,  resting  on  every  form  of  life,  will 
comprehend  how  the  discontinuance  of  this  Journal 
should,  at  a  time  of  such  unexampled  tribulation,  have 
been  on  all  sides  regarded  as  a  national  calamity. 

The  problem  which  Perthes,  as  a  French  subject  and 
a  man  of  business,  had  now  to  solve,  was  the  mainte- 
nance of  his  business  unimpaired  under  the  new  censor- 
ship. A  widely  organized  system  of  espionage  had 
been  established,  with  its  head-quarters  at  Paris,  which 
imposed  restrictions  not  only  on  the  books  which  issued 
from  the  German  press,  but  on  their  circulation  through 
the  empire.  The  bookselling  trade  suffered  severely 
from  the  new  laws.  Perthes,  however,  perceiving  the 
irregularities  of  their  operation,  arising  from  the  igno- 
rance of  the  officials,  succeeded,  by  skilfully  taking 
advantage  of  these,  not  only  in  preserving  his  varied 
and  wide-spread  trade  connexions,  but  even  in  extend- 
ing and  giving  increased  efficiency  to  his  business. 

In  the  meanwhile,  his  intellectual  life  was  kept  alive 
by  an  active  correspondence  with  eminent  men  of  the 
most  opposite  tendencies  and  opinions  ;  such  as  Ru- 
moJir  and  Klinkowstrom,  Stolberg  and  Droste,  Steff- 
ens  and  Fouqu^,  Niebuhr  and  Nicolovius,  Gorres  and 
Villers,  Jacobi  and  Reinhold  ;  while  the  sittings  of  the 
jury,  of  which  Perthes  was  a  member,  and  a  friendly 
intercourse  with  De  Serre  and  Eichhorn,  created  other 
interests  of  a  local  kind. 

"  There  will  be  no  peace,"  wrote  Gorres,  "  till  the 
whole  generation  contemporary  with  the  revolution,  is 
extinct  to  the  very  last  man.''  But  although  Perthes 
could  see  no  signs  of  better  days,  his  firm  conviction 


THE   FRENCH    IN    HAMBURGH.  147 

that  the  present  cloud  would  pass  away,  and  that  in 
the  meanwhile  the  best  must  be  made  of  things  as  they 
are,  gave  a  tone  of  freshness  and  cheerfulness  to  his 
conversation  and  to  his  letters,  which  attracted  the 
friendly  sympathies  of  many  persons  of  eminence  far 
and  near  who  admired  the  spirit  that  he  displayed. 

"  Your  letter,"  wrote  Fouque,*  "  has  baptized  me 
with  fire  and  water — with  the  tear-water  of  the  deepest 
melancholy,  but  at  the  same  time  with  the  fire  of  a  sure 
and  invincible  faith  and  courage.  If  all  the  good  men 
of  our  times  could  regard  the  phenomena  of  the  pres- 
ent with  the  same  calmness,  the  same  depth  of  feeling 
and  of  penetration  as  yourself,  then  we  should  have 
nothing  to  complain  of  as  regards  all  that  is  highest 
and  most  worthy  of  preservation  among  us." 

"  Niebuhr  will  tell  you,"  wrote  Nicolovius,  "  how 
greatly  we  admire  your  manly  spirit  and  your  Chris- 
tian serpen t-and-dove  demeanor.  Do  not  doubt  us, 
but  believe  that,  to  the  best  of  our  ability,  we  keep  up 
our  spirits,  and  will  continue  to  be  worthy  of  your 
sympathy.'^ 

The  great  intellectual  movements  which  were  now 
visible,  and  the  opposing  attitudes  which  political 
parties  now  began  to  assume  in  Prussia,  and  especially 
in  Berlin,  were  not  unobserved  by  patriotic  Germans 
of  other  countries.  Perthes  did  not  clearly  see  whether 
this  mutual  clashing  and  fermenting  of  political  opin- 
ion would  be  productive  of  good  or  evil,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1811,  was  desirous  to  see  and  judge  of  the 
state  of  Berlin  from  personal  observation  ;  but  he  was 
prevented  from  accomplishing  his  purpose.     "  I  regret 

*  Author  of  Undine. 


148  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

exceedingly  that  you  are  not  able  to  come,"  wrote 
Niebubr  ;  "  I  had  so  ardently  desired  to  see  you  ;  you 
could  have  passed  a  couple  of  days  with  us,  and  seen 
none  but  your  friends  ;  you  are,  perhaps,  hardly  aware 
of  the  genuine  goodness  still  to  be  found  in  those  who 
maintain  either  of  the  two  principles  which  exist  here 
side  by  side — a  goodness  as  pure  and  genuine  as  you 
could  wish.  I  hate  talkers  and  empty  blusterers  as 
much  as  you  can,  but  I  would  gladly  have  introduced 
you  to  the  salt  of  our  wilderness,  and  I,  as  well  as 
Nicolovius,  wish  to  talk  heart  to  heart  with  you  for  a 
couple  of  days.  Dear  Perthes,  if  it  is  not  quite  de- 
cided, ask  yourself  again,  whether  you  could  not  con- 
trive to  come  to  us.  I  promise  you  that  you  shall  not 
repent  it.  Your  principles,  indeed,  are  not  exactly 
those  generally  adopted  here,  but  I  have  so  long  been 
faithful  to  them  that  they  have  become  a  second  nature 
to  me." 

In  July,  1812,  Perthes  accomplished  his  long  pro- 
posed visit  to  Berlin,  and  passed  some  weeks  there, 
during  the  passage  of  the  French  armies  on  their  way 
to  the  East.  He  made  himself  acquainted  with  the 
views  and  objects  of  the  ardent  patriots  who  composed 
the  two  parties ;  and  all  that  he  saw  tended  to 
strengthen  him  in  his  belief  that  the  hour  of  deliver- 
ance for  Germany  was  not  far  distant. 

"  The  mental  sprightliness  of  Perthes,"  wrote  Nie- 
buhr  to  the  wife  of  the  physician  Hensler,  "  is  very  re- 
freshing ;  he  left  us  on  Friday  ;  we  passed  many  cheer- 
ful hours  together.  The  facility  with  which  he  adapts 
himself  to  every  changing  phase  of  the  period,  literary 
and  political,  without  ever  compromising  his  independ- 
ence, keeps,  and  will  continue  to  keep  him  youthful,  and 


THE    FREXCH    IN    HAMBURGH.  149 

is  greatly  to  be  envied."  And  Nicolovius,  in  a  letter  of 
the  12tli  of  August,  says,  "  Your  visit  has  strengthened 
me,  my  dear  Perthes.  You  understand  how  to  take 
these  evil  times,  so  as  not  to  be  overwhelmed  by  them  ; 
may  God  grant  you  strength  for  further  struggles  and 
future  victory."' 

Perthes  had  now  seen  with  his  own  eyes,  how  heavily 
and  how  fearfully  the  French  yoke  pressed  upon  Prus- 
sia. In  Hamburgh  it  was  no  less  galling.  Trade  and 
shipping  were  annihilated.  The  once  proud  and  flour- 
ishing city  now  presented  the  appearance  of  complete 
decay.  Harsh  regulations  were  enforced  with  heart- 
less brutality.  Ground  down  by  the  exactions  of  greedy 
officials  of  every  rank,  and  harassed  by  arbitrary  p^- 
secution,  the  inhabitants  of  Hamburgh  had  not  even 
the  consolation  of  feeling  themselves  free  from  annoy- 
ance in  their  own  houses  ;  and  when,  towards  the  end 
of  the  summer  of  1812,  the  Gazette  announced  victory 
after  victory  of  the  Grand  Armee  in  Russia,  all  hope 
of  deliverance,  or  even  of  alleviation,  seemed  to  be  at 
an  end,  and  no  man  dared  to  attach  any  credit  to  the 
faint  rumors  of  misfortune  and  defeat  which  were  sub- 
sequently whispered. 

In  gloomy  and  desperate  dejection  the  citizens  were 
preparing  to  celebrate  the  Christmas  festival,  when,  on 
the  24th  December,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  the  publication 
of  the  29th  bulletin  confirmed  beyond  any  possibility  of 
doubt,  the  tidings  of  the  total  annihilation  of  the  French 
host.  A  miracle  had  been  wrought,  and  a  star  of  hope 
liad  appeared,  which  rekindled  life  and  spirit  in  every 
oppressed  heart.  Such  a  Christmas  Eve  was  kept  in 
Hamburgh  as  had  not  been  known  for  many  a  long 
year. 


XIV. 

ERTHES  had  long  been  connected,  in  a  va- 
riety of  ways,  with  Ludwig  von  Hess,  a 
remarkable  and  talented  Swede,  of  noble 
birth,  who  had  in  early  life  filled  the  post  of 
privy  councillor  in  his  own  country.  He  had 
settled  in  Hamburgh  in  the  year  1780,  and 
his  passionate  attachment  to  his  new  home, 
his  strict  integrity,  and  the  acuteness  of  his  understand- 
ing, had  secured  for  him  universal  respect.  He  was 
singularly  fertile  in  expedients,  and  had  a  peculiar  ap- 
titude for  stating  complicated  questions  clearly  and 
intellis'iblv. 

Yon  Hess  had  always  placed  confidence  in  Perthes, 
and  enjoyed  his  society  ;  but  it  was  Napoleon's  Rus- 
sian expedition  that,  by  the  excitement  it  gave  rise  to 
in  both  of  these  men,  was  the  means  of  drawing  them 
more  closely  together.  They  sought  consolation  and 
relief  in  the  unreserved  exchange  of  their  opinions, 
hopes,  and  fears.  Hess,  a  man  of  the  past,  and  a  for- 
eigner by  birth,  had  connected  all  his  hopes  and  fears 
with  Hamburgh,  the  home  of  his  choice,  but  he  pos- 
sessed no  German  national  feeling ;  Perthes,  on  the 
other  hand,  though  attached  to  the  city,  and  grateful 
for  all  that  it  liad  given  liim — education,  friends,  call- 

(15(1) 


PATRIOTISM.  151 

ing,  wife  and  children,  nevertheless  did  not  hesitate  to 
say — "  If  the  freedom  of  Germany  be  not  achieved,  noth- 
ing in  Hamburgh  is  of  any  consequence  to  me, — can 
interest  me  for  a  moment."  But  neither  their  politi- 
cal differences,  nor  their  dissimilarity  of  view  on  more 
important  points,  opposed  the  slightest  obstacle  to 
their  mutual  and  entire  confidence.  In  speaking  of 
this  friendship  in  after  years,  Perthes  used  to  say — 
"  We  were  of  different  ages  ;  our  career  in  life,  and 
our  inward  history,  had  been  quite  dissimilar  ;  and  our 
opinions  were  constitutionally  opposed,  and  yet  we  be- 
came friends  in  the  fullest  and  most  genuine  sense  of 
the  word." 

The  winter  of  1812  drew  nigh,  and  the  burning  of 
Moscow  opened  the  prospect  of  a  near  and  pregnant 
future.  Perthes  communicated  his  hopes  to  several 
men  in  whom  he  had  confidence ;  first  of  all  to  Yon 
Hess,  and  his  old  friend  Hulsenbeck,  then  to  Doctor 
Ferdinand  Benecke,  whose  heart  beat  with  the  most 
self-sacrificing  devotion  to  Germany,  and  to  the  Count 
Joseph  Westphalen,  who  had  been  led  at  this  time  to 
Hamburgh,  in  the  hope  of  finding  there  some  field  for 
liis  chivalrous  spirit.  The  circle  soon  grew  larger,  and 
the  opinions  and  plans  of  those  who  composed  it  more 
definite. 

-  In  January,  1813,  the  French  garrison  numbered 
scarcely  more  than  3,000  men.  To  oppose  this  hand- 
ful of  troops,  there  was  the  numerous  and  vigorous 
population  of  the  great  maritime  and  commercial  city, 
accustomed  to  hard  labor  and  perilous  enterprise,  aware 
of  their  physical  superiority,  and  not  wanting  in  dar- 
ing. The  words  of  the  burghers  waxed  daily  louder 
and  bolder  ;   even  inen  who  had  belonged  to  the  old 


152  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

magistracy  of  the  city,  gave  their  fellow-citizens  to  un- 
derstand that  when  the  hour  came  they  might  reckon  on 
their  support.  All  depended  on  giving  form  and  co- 
hesion to  the  powerful  but  undisciplined  mass,  and 
towards  the  end  of  January,  Yon  Hess  spoke  to  his 
friends  about  the  establishment  of  a  burgher  force. 
The  consent  of  the  French  authorities,  tortured  as  they 
now  were  with  anxiety,  did  not  seem  improbable,  as 
they  might  regard  the  measure  as  being  to  some  ex- 
tent a  security  for  themselves  in  the  event  of  any  wild 
outburst  of  popular  fury.  While  Rist  proposed  the 
subject  to  the  French  generals,  Perthes  and  his  old 
friend  Speckter  formed  a  close  intimacy  with  Mettler- 
kamp  the  plumber,  a  man  of  spirit  and  decision,  and 
known  and  greatly  beloved  by  the  people.  At  their 
instigation,  Mettlerkamp  spoke  to  a  number  of  the 
strongest  and  most  determined  among  the  people, 
chiefly  of  the  laboring  class,  addressing  each  individ- 
ually, and  urging  them  to  speak  to  others.  Perthes* 
in  like  manner,  availed  himself  of  the  extensive  ac- 
quaintance that  he  had  formed,  partly  through  his  vo- 
cation, and  partly  through  his  previous  position  as  a 
member  of  the  committee  for  billeting  the  troops. 
Lists  were  soon  made  out  of  men  who  engaged  to  be 
ready  whenever  the  expulsion  of  the  French  was  thought 
practicable. 

While  the  excitement  and  the  spirit  of  the  burghers 
were  at  their  heiglit.  General  Lauriston  appeared  in 
Hamburgh,  early  in  February,  and  withdrew  the  greater 
part  of  the  garrison  to  Magdeburg,  where  a  large  body 
of  troops  was  to  be  concentrated.  The  French  gene- 
rals who  remained,  Cara  St.  Cyr  and  Ivendorf,  now 
fully  recognized  the  dangers  of  their  situation,  and 


PA.TRIOTISM.  153 

manifested  their  uneasiness  by  the  vacillation  and  un- 
certainty of  their  movements. 

Perthes  had  unbounded  confidence  in  the  strength 
and  spirit  of  the  burghers,  and  he  was  unwilling  to 
owe  the  deliverance  of  the  city  to  any  third  party  ; 
still  he  could  not  overlook  the  fact  that  military  disci- 
pline and  experienced  leaders  were  wanting,  and  that 
there  was  nothing  to  rely  upon  except  the  strong  arms 
and  the  courage  of  the  untrained  citizens.  He  was, 
indeed,  fully  convinced,  that  an  outbreak  of  popular 
fury  which  should  annihilate  the  French  garrison  might, 
at  any  time,  be  counted  on  ;  but  then  who  was  to  con- 
duct the  defence  of  the  city,  and  to  lead  the  raw  burgh- 
ers against  the  French  troops  undqr  French  generals, 
who,  in  such  a  case,  were  certain  to  endeavor  to  regain 
the  town  ?  Moreover,  Perthes  desired  that  the  rising 
of  Hamburgh  should  be  regarded  not  as  a  local  but  as 
a  German  movement. 

The  solemn  deliverance  of  the  downtrodden  city 
from  its  oppressors,  seemed  to  him  to  possess  impor- 
tance as  a  signal  for  the  rising  of  the  whole  north-w^est 
of  Germany  ;  /or,  in  the  event  of  this,  it  seemed  likely 
that  the  princes,  who  at  that  time  were  the  victims 
alternately  of  hope  and  fear,  would  be  driven  to  a 
decisive  step.  In  order  to  give  this  character  to  the 
efforts  of  an  isolated  city,  some  man  of  high  rank  and 
of  recognized  position  was  wanted,  to  whom  the  com- 
mand might  be  intrusted,  and  who  would  be  able  to 
provide  the  citizens  with  experienced  leaders.  The 
Duke  of  Oldenburg  appeared  to  be  the  man,  and 
Perthes  thought  himself  at  liberty  to  send  him  an 
urgent  solicitation  without  delay. 

*'  These  eventful  times,"  he  says,  "  authorize  the 
7* 


154  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

burghers  to  approach  the  prince  with  candor  and 
confidence,  and  the  voice  of  the  individual  burgher  is 
also  that  of  a  band  of  united  friends.  It  is  only  through 
herself  that  Germany  can  attain  a  real  and  permanent 
independence.  And  if,  at  this  moment,  even  a  small 
body  of  troops,  led  by  a  brave  German  prince,  having 
under  him.  men  of  irreproachable  and  recognized  name, 
both  from  the  ranks  of  the  nobles,  and  from  the  burgher 
class,  were  to  appear  on  our  territory,  the  country 
would  everywhere  rise  to  support  him,  and  by  God^s 
help  Germany  would,  through  her  own  unaided  ejQForts, 
be  free  to  the  Rhine.  The  prince  who  now  devotes 
himself  to  the  German  cause  may  rely  upon  the  nation. 
The  German  has -always  loved  his  prince,  and  this  af- 
fection still  survives,  and  is  now  anxiously  looking  for 
an  object.  You  are  the  universal  object  of  hope  and 
desire,  most  serene  Duke,  for  you  have  rendered  your 
own  States  singularly  prosperous  ;  you  have  appreciated 
German  manners  and  German  art,  and  you  saved  3^our 
honor  when  with  dignity  you  retreated  before  vio- 
lence." 

On  the  21st  of  February  Perthes,  accompanied  by 
his  eldest  son  Matthias,  set  out  with  this  document  to 
the  house  of  Count  Adam  Moltke  at  Niitscliau.  Moltke 
took  him,  the  next  day,  to  Eutin,  and  there,  through 
the  earnest  eloquence  of  the  Councillor  Runde,  the 
President  von  Maltzan  was  persuaded  to  undertake  its 
presentation  to  the  Duke.  From  Eutin  Perthes  went 
to  Lubeck,  where  he  found  the  burghers  animated  with 
the  same  spirit  as  the  citizens  of  Hamburgh. 

He  returned  home  on  the  night  of  the  24th  of 
February,  and  found  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs 
changed. 


PATRIOTISM.  155 

On  the  22d  there  had  been  great  excitement  in  the 
city  on  account  of  a  false  rumor  of  the  approach  of 
the  Russians. 

''  Yesterday  morning,"  wrote  Caroline  to  her  father 
at  Wandsbeck,  "  there  were  Cossacks  at  Perleberg, 
seven tv-six  miles  from  this, — ah !  that  I  had  a  thousand 
voices  to  sing  Benedictus  qui  venit  !  The  city  is  all 
alive,  and  assuredly  some  great  step  is  about  to  be 
taken." 

On  the  24th  of  February,  the  day  before  the  return 
of  Perthes,  the  citizens  had  risen  simultaneously  in 
different  parts  of  the  city.  The  Custom-house  guard 
at  the  Altona  gate  was  attacked,  and  the  soldiers  fired 
repeatedly  on  the  people.  The  number  of  the  killed 
was  never  ascertained  ;  but  the  guard-house  was  taken 
and  demolished,  and  a  long  row  of  palisades  thrown 
down.  At  the  harbor,  where  the  prefectoral  guard, 
which  was  composed  of  the  sons  of  the  burghers,  was 
to  have  been  embarked,  the  population  of  the  neigh- 
borhood placed  themselves  in  the  road,  and  on  the 
appearance  of  the  Mayor,  pelted  him  back  with  stones, 
and,  proceeding  tumultuously  through  the  city,  tore 
down  the  French  eagles  wherever  they  found  them 
with  shouts  of  triumph,  and  trod  them  under  foqt. 
The  house  of  a  particularly  obnoxious  French  police- 
officer  was  levelled  with  the  ground.  There  was  no 
theft  committed  ;  the  French  only  were  SQught  for  by 
the  mob." 

"  There  is  no  longer  an  eagle  to  be  seen  in  the  city," 
wrote  Caroline  to  her  fatlier  •  ''  the  tumult  in  the 
streets  grows  louder,  God  be  praised  ;  would  that  my 
Perthes  were  here !" 

The  French  garrison  suffered  considerably,  but  kept 


156  CAROUNK    PERTHES. 

the  people  at  bay.  No  leader  stept  forth  from  the 
ranks  of  the  madly-excited  populace  ;  and  the  conse- 
quence was,  that  at  nightfall,  the  mob  dispersed, 
leaving  the  French,  though  dispirited  and  full  of 
apprehension,  still  in  possession  of  the  city. 

When  Perthes,  on  the  morning  of  the  25th  of  Feb- 
ruary, was  made  acquainted  with  the  state  of  things, 
he  immediately  sought  out  Yon  Hess,  to  urge  upon 
him  the  importance  of  overcoming  a  groundless  but 
passionate  dislike  of  Benecke,  and  of  acting  in  concert 
with  him  and  his  friends  Prell  and  Ewald.  On  Hess 
declaring  that  he  was  willing  to  unite,  Perthes  added 
Mettlerkamp  to  the  number,  and  these  six  men  held 
their  first  meeting  at  the  house  of  Perthes  on  the  26th 
of  February.  When  they  learned  from  an  announce- 
ment by  the  Mayor  that  the  French  authorities  had 
concurred  in  the  propriety  of  arming  five  hundred  of 
the  burghers,  and  had  promised  to  supply  them  with 
arms,  the  main  difl&culty  was  removed  ;  but  the  angry 
warmth  with  which  Hess  in  this  first  interview  opposed 
the  ardent  German  nationality  of  Benecke,  made  him 
fear  that  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  induce  these  two 
men  to  work  together. 

*'  It  was  then  for  the  first  time,"  said  Perthes,  "  that 
I  saw  the  evil  element  of  hatred  show  itself  in  Yon 
Hess,  with  a  violence  hitherto  unknown  to  me  ;  I  saw 
that  the  business  could  only  be  carried  on  through  ray 
mediation,  and  that  a  painful  and  laborious  task  was 
tlms  imposed  on  me."  Perthes  persuaded  the  Com- 
mittee to  choose  Hess  as  Commander  of  the  burgher- 
reserve.  "  I  was  certain,"  said  Perthes, "  that  Benecke, 
for  the  sake  of  the  good  cause,  would  gladly  range 
himself   under    him.   and  I   hoped    that  Yon   Hess, 


PATRIOTISM.  167 

sensible  of  the  honor  conferred  on  him,  would  over- 
come his  hatred." 

On  the  27th  of  February  the  invitation  to  the  burgh- 
ers to  enroll  themselves  in  the  reserve  companies  was 
issued.  Men  of  respectability  and  spirit  offered  them- 
selves in  sufficient  numbers,  and  subjected  themselves 
to  the  necessary  military  drill.  The  five  Captains  as- 
sembled at  the  house  of  Perthes,  to  master  the  manual 
exercise  which  they  were  afterwards  to  teach  the  men, 
in  a  timber-yard  that  had  been  cleared  for  the  purpose. 
Some  days  of  restless  excitement  followed. 

"  In  the  old  town  all  is  quiet  now,"  wrote  Caroline 
to  her  father,  "  but  elsewhere  all  is  confusion.  In 
Lubeck  the  movement  is  in  full  progress,  and  there  is 
no  longer  an  eagle  to  be  seen.  Cossacks  have  crossed 
the  Elbe  into  Hanover,  but  at  present,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, they  serve  the  purpose  only  of  alarm-drums  ;  for 
we  have  letters  from  Berlin,  and  they  have  not  yet 
been  seen  there ;  but  all,  old  and  young,  are  preparing ; 
even  Fouque  and  Steffens  are  with  them." 

But  the  hopes  that  had  been  founded  on  the  arming 
of  the  burgher-reserve  soon  disappeared.  The  rapidity 
with  which  this  had  been  entered  into,  and  the  success 
of  the  movement,  had  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  old 
burgher-guard,  who  felt  themselves  thrown  into  the 
background,  and  who  busied  themselves  in  disseminat- 
ing their  suspicious  and  hostile  views.  At  the  same 
time  the  differences  among  the  leading  men  of  the  re- 
serve force,  were  found  to  be  past  remedy.  Hess 
opposed  with  frantic  violence  every  national  German 
sentiment,  only  because  it  was  advanced  by  Benecke, 
and  rejected  with  intemperate  warmth  every  plan  for 
the   deliverance  of  Hamburgh   that  reckoned  on  the 


168  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

rising  of  the  untrained  and  undisciplined  masses,  as  an 
element  of  success  ;  while  Benecke  and  Perthes,  on 
the  contrary,  perceived  in  the  efforts  of  the  people, 
irregular  as  they  might  be,  a  power  which,  in  the  pres- 
ent position  of  affairs,  might  be  turned  to  good 
account. 

"  The  rising  of  the  24th  of  February,"  said  Perthes, 
"  has  shown  that  our  people  are  ready  for  great  events, 
and  that  they  are  neither  bloodthirsty  nor  ill-natured." 

"  Above  all  things,  the  burgher-reserve  must  be 
popular,"  said  Benecke,  "  and  we  must  therefore  avoid 
everything  that  would  be  likely  to  deprive  them  of 
the  confidence  of  the  people  ;  their  duty  must  then  be 
confined  to  the  protection  of  the  persons  and  dwell- 
ings of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  they  must  on  no 
account  be  called  on  to  aid  tlie  Frencli  military  or 
Custom-house  authorities  against  the  people.  From 
this  principle  there  must  not  be  the  slightest  devia- 
tion." 

Hess  held  quite  contrary  opinions.  Perthes  saw 
that  the  union  of  the  citizens  Avas  endangered  by  these 
irreconcilable  differences  among  the  leaders  of  the 
Reserve,  and  was  persuaded  that  the  only  means  of 
averting  this  danger  was  its  immediate  dissolution. 
Supported  by  Mettlerkamp,  he  gained  the  consent  of 
the  Committee  on  the  2d  of  March,  and  on  the  3d,  the 
reserve  companies  were  dissolved.  On  the  very  day 
that  found  him  deploring  the  extinction  of  the  hopes 
of  deliverance  which  he  had  associated  with  this  move- 
ment, his  spirits  were  revived  by  glad  tidings  from 
Berlin." 

"  Here,  in  Berlin,  all  is  life  and  activity,"  wrote 
Reimer,   "  and  every  one  is  engaged  after  his  own 


PATRIOTISM.  159 

fashion  in  raising  the  cry  of  Fatherland  and  King. 
The  excitement  and  commotion  has  a  charm  for  all, 
each  lives  a  new  life,  and  the  individual  disappears 
and  is  lost  in  his  relation  to  the  whole.  Confidence 
has  risen  to  tlie  highest  pitch  by  this  visible  manifesta- 
tion of  Divine  providence,  and  the  hope  of  a  happy 
result  has  now  become  certainty.  Such  is  the  state  of 
affairs  with  us,  dear  friend,  and  I  hope  that  all  Ger- 
many will  participate  in  our  joy,  and  do  valiantly,  so 
that  a  new  day  may  dawn,  and  peace  and  happiness 
may  once  more  take  up  their  abode  upon  earth.'*' 

Now  that  there  was  no  longer  any  possibility  of 
openly  training  a  large  body  of  men  in  military  exer- 
cises, Hess,  Perthes,  and  Prell,  assembled  a  small  num- 
ber of  the  most  resolute  and  trustworthy  members  of 
the  reserve,  and  went  through  the  drill  with  them  at 
the  houses  of  different  individuals.  The  object  was  to 
liave  ready  for  action  a  few  leaders  on  whom,  in  case 
of  need,  reliance  might  be  placed. 

Without  entering  into  farther  details  we  may  simply 
state  that  the  French,  aware  of  the  growing  spirit  of 
discontent,  and  of  the  approach  of  the  Russians,  con- 
sidered their  position  untenable,  and  much  to  the 
delight  of  the  citizens  of  the  town,  evacuated  Ham- 
burgh on  the.  12th  March.  The  city,  however,  was 
soon  threatened  with  a  siege. 

When,  on  the  16th  of  March,  General  Moraud,  with 
about  three  thousand  five  hundred  men,  entered  Berge- 
dorf,  a  village  within  a  few  hours'  march  of  Ham- 
burgh, and  the  excitement  of  the  burghers  had  risen  to 
the  highest  pitch,  Perthes,  Mettlerkamp,  and  some 
other  friends,  determined  to  make  every  effort  to  de- 
fend the  city  against  the  French,  and  to  avail  them- 


160  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

selves  of  the  popular  fury,  which  was  ready  to  burst 
forth  on  tJie  slightest  occasion.  But  the  necessity  of 
having,"  recourse  to  this  extreme  measure  vanished  with 
the  announcement  that  a  detachment  of  Danish  troops 
had  taken  up  a  position  between  Hamburgh  and  Berge- 
dorf,  and  refused  to  allow  Moraud  a  passage  through 
the  Danish  territory.  The  latter  found  himself 
obliged,  in  consequence  of  this  refusal,  to  transport 
his  troops  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Elbe.  A  body  of 
some  fifteen  hundred  Cossacks  about  the  same  time 
entered  Bergedorf,  having  marched  by  way  of  Ludwig- 
slust  and  Luneburg  from  Berlin  ;  and  on  the  evening 
of  the  same  day,  a  flying  party  of  thirteen  men,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  (afterwards  Councillor) 
Barsch,  rode  for  an  hour  through  the  streets  of  Ham- 
burgh. 

*'  As  the  detachment  approached  the  city,  and  came 
in  sight  of  the  Steinthor  Guard-house,'^  wrote  Benecke 
to  Perthes,  "  the  guard  turned  out,  and  our  Captain 
with  eight  men,  myself  being  one  of  them,  advanced 
towards  the  Russians.  At  a  signal  from  him,  the 
Russian  officer  commanded  a  halt,  and  our  Captain 
delivered  the  keys  of  the  city  to  him  with  these 
words, — '  Here  are  the  keys  of  the  free  Hanse-town  of 
Hamburgh — long  live  Russia  and  Germany,  hurrah !' 
The  shouts  taken  up  by  thousands  after  thousands, 
rendered  the  German  reply  of  the  Russian  officer,  who 
received  the  keys  with  dignified  bearing  and  cordial 
friendliness,  inaudible.  The  rejoicing  passes  descrip- 
tion— 'German,  Russian,  Cossack,  Alexander  !^  were 
the  only  intelligible  cries,  and  tears  stood  in  many 
eyes.  Dear  Perthes,  it  was  a  moment  to  be  had  in 
everlasting  remembrance." 


PATRIOTISM.  161 

During  the  nights  of  the  17th  and  18th  of  March, 
the  Eussians  occupied  Bergedorf,  over  against  Ham- 
burgh, and  on  the  morning  of  the  19th,  entered  the 
city.  The  streets  were  filled  with  crowds  of  happy 
citizens,  anxious  to  behold  with  their  own  eyes  those 
wild  horsemen  of  another  world  who  had  hitherto  been 
known  to  them  only  in  nursery  tales. 

"  My  dear  papa,''  wrote  Caroline,  a  few  hours  before 
their  arrival,  "  how  can  I  give  you  any  idea  of  the 
universal  joy  of  old  and  young,  rich  and  poor,  bad  and 
good?  To  have  seen,  and  heard,  and  felt  it,  is,  indeed, 
a  thing  to  be  thankful  for.  I  will  not  inquire  into  the 
causes  of  the  joy,  but  its  expression  was  unspeakably 
grand,  and  it  appears  to  spring  from  a  good  and  pure 
source.  An  advanced  guard  of  thirteen  Cossacks 
entered  the  city  yesterday  evening,  with  long  flowing 
mantles,  and  adorned  with  the  spoils  of  the  French, — 
at  any  rate  adorned  with  parts  of  the  French  military 
dress.  Every  throat  was  strained  to  welcome  them, 
and  every  heart  thanked  God  in  Heaven,  and  the 
Russians  on  earth.  Never,  dear  papa,  have  I  seen  such 
a  union  of  hearts,  the  feelings  of  thousands  all  centred 
in  one  point.  Ah !  could  we  but  so  centre  ourselves 
in  the  best  point  of  all,  what  a  glorious  Church  we 
sliould  form  !  The  Cossacks  advanced  at  a  gallop, 
tlieir  lances  lowered,  and  waving  their  caps,  and  look- 
ing wonderfully  honest  and  friendly.  The  people 
crowded  round  them,  bringing  brandy,  cakes,  and 
bread.  People  who  were  yesterday  quite  desponding, 
are  to-day  full  of  hope  and  courage.  If  the  depths  of 
the  soul  were  more  frequently  stirred,  it  could  not  but 
be  attended  with  good  results.'' 

About  noon,  the   Cossacks   entered   the  city  amid 


162  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

wildest  shouts  of  welcome,  and  all  the  sorrows  of  the 
past  and  the  dangers  of  the  future,  seemed  merged  in 
the  happiness  of  the  present.  And  yet,  scarcely  a 
German  mile  off,  lay  the  enemy,  who  might,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  hours,  fill  the  city  with  blood  and 
desolation  ;  but  no  one  thought  of  the  enemy  or  of  his 
chagrin.  To  liim  who  wandered  through  the  streets 
in  the  summer  warmth  of  that  spring  evening,  the  city 
presented  a  strange  spectacle.  The  echoes  of  trium- 
phant rejoicing  had  died  away  ;  everywhere  profound 
stillness  and  the  calm  of  security  reigned  ;  there  was 
neither  guard  nor  watch,  not  even  a  policeman  was  to 
be  seen.  The  moon  shone  brightly  on  the  houses  with 
their  sleeping  inhabitants,  and  completed  the  picture 
of  peace  and  tranquillity.  The  joy-wearied  city  had 
committed  itself  to  the  sole  keeping  of  the  Almighty. 


XV. 


I  HE  Russian  troops  which  Tettenborn  led  into 
Hamburgh  were  too  few  in  number  to  enable 
the  citizens  to  entertain  the  hope  that  the 
French  would  leave  them  undisturbed.  Great 
exertions  were  now  made  to  strengthen  the 
government  of  the  city,  and  to  make  prepara- 
tions for  a  successful  resistance  in  the  event 
of  the  return  of  the  French.  Perthes  worked  with 
indefatigable  energy,  fixing  the  attention  of  all  the 
leading  men  on  himself  as  the  citizen  in  whom  most 
reliance  could  be  placed  in  the  hour  of  need  ;  and  he 
was  regarded  by  many  as  the  centre  of  the  efforts  which 
were  being  made. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  evacuation  by  the  French, 
Davoust,  at  the  head  of  six  thousand  men,  advanced  to 
recapture  the  city.  Without  resistance  he  had  made 
himself  master  of  Harburg,  which  was  separated  from 
Hamburgh  only  by  the  Elbe,  and  the  islands  Wilhelms- 
burg,  Ochsenwarder,  and  Feddel.  On  the  9th  of  May, 
at  five  in  the  morning,  the  drums  sounded  an  alarm 
through  the  city  ;  the  enemy  had  effected  a  landing  on 
Wilhelmsburg,  had  driven  back  the  Lauenburg  and 
Hanse  battalions  by  which  it  was  occupied,  and  had 
taken  possession  of  the  island.     Two  companies  of 

(163) 


164  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Mecklenburg  grenadiers  and  the  first  battalion  of 
Hanseatics  advanced  against  the  enemy  as  soon  as 
their  leader,  Yon  Canitz,  had  placed  himself  at  their 
head  ;  and,  charging  with  spirit  and  in  order,  forced 
the  French  to  the  extreme  south  corner  of  the  island, 
and  even  drove  them  back  to  Harburg.  But  to  the 
surprise  and  alarm  of  all,  Tettenborn,  on  the  11th, 
gave  orders  to  evacuate  the  island  which  they  had 
so  bravely  regained,  and  on-  the  12th,  after  the  two 
Hanseatic  battalions  were  to  a  man  almost  cut  to 
pieces,  Feddel  also  was  lost.  The  foe  was  now  close 
to  Hamburgh,  and  on  the  night  of  the  19th  of  May, 
the  bombardment  of  tlie  city  began.  "  Dear  Caro- 
line," wrote  Perthes  to  his  wife,  who  had  passed  the 
night  at  Wandsbeck,  "  I  implore  you  from  the  depths 
of  my  soul  to  be  calm,  and  place  yourself  and  me 
in  the  hands  of  God  ;  trust  me,  and  believe  that 
whatsoever  I  do,  I  shall  be  able  to  answer  before 
God.  The  bombardment  seems  more  terrible  than  it 
is,  and  even  if  it  should  be  repeated,  the  damage  will 
not  be  so  great  as  one  would  imagine  ;  there  is  often 
far  more  danger  hidden  under  common  things." 

During  the  night  of  the  22d,  above  five  hundred 
grenades  were  thrown  into  the  city,  but  the  spirit  of 
the  burghers  was  still  unbroken. 

The  Burgher-Guard,  which  at  the  most  mustered 
3400  available  muskets,  and  was  therefore,  to  a  great 
extent,  armed  only  with  pikes,  had,  since  the  9th  of 
May,  furnished  daily  from  800  to  1000  men  to  secure 
Hamburgh  Hill,  the  Stadtdeich,  and  the  Elbdeich, 
against  the  landing  of  the  enemy.  Every  night  a  part 
of  them  were  obliged  to  bivouac. 

Perthes  now  felt  that  his  position  in  the  Burgher- 


CAROLIITe's   escape   from   HAMBURGH.  165 

Guard  required  liim  to  exert  all  his  moral  and  physi- 
cal powers  of  endurance,  all  his  elasticity  of  spirit,  and 
all  his  influence  over  men's  minds,  in  order  to  stimulate 
the  courage,  and  to  increase  the  steadfastness  of  his 
fellow -citizens,  under  circumstances  which,  trying 
enough  in  themselves,  were  rendered  still  more  so  by 
the  conduct  of  the  military  authorities.  Now,  he 
afforded  to  Yon  Hess — who  in  restless  excitement 
passed  from  the  boldest  confidence  to  the  most  abject 
despair,  and  from  the  most  violent  activity  to  a  state 
of  absolute  torpor — the  support  cf  which  he  stood  in 
need  ;  now  he  might  be  seen  quieting  the  citizens, 
Avhen  without  any  apparent  cause,  they  had  been  sum- 
moned by  the  alarm  bell,  and  were  left  to  stand  for- 
gotten for  hours  together  on  the  muster-ground  ;  on 
other  occasions,  and  generally  by  night,  he  sought  out 
tiie  burghers  on  the  more  distant  posts,  to  many  of 
whom  his  presence  was  a  source  of  courage  and  of 
confidence. 

"  From  the  9  th  of  May,"  wrote  Caroline,  afterwards, 
"  Perthes  had  not  undressed  for  one-and-twenty  nights, 
and  during  that  period  had  never  lain  down  in  bed. 
I  was  in  daily  anxiety  for  his  life.  He  was  only  occa- 
sionally, and  that  half  an  hour  at  a  time,  in  the  house. 
The  three  younger  children  were  at  Wandsbeck,  with 
my  mother  ;  the  four  elder  Tvere  with  me,  because  they 
could  not  have  been  removed  without  force.  I  had 
no  man  on  the  premises — all  were  on  guard.  People 
were  constantly  coming  in  to  eat  and  drink,  for  none 
of  our  acquaintances  kept  house  in  the  city.  I  had 
laid  sacks  filled  with  straw  in  the  large  parlor,  and 
there,  night  and  day,  lay  burghers,  who  came  in  by 
turns  to   snatch  a  short  repose.      At  the  battle  of 


166  CAROLINE   PERTHES.    • 

Wilhelmsburg  we  lost  our  Weber,  and  many  of  our 
friends.  Day  and  night  I  was  on  the  balcony  to  see 
if  Perthes,  or  any  of  our  relations,  were  carried  by 
among  the  wounded.  At  the  time  when  the  cannon- 
ading was  loudest,  and  the  greatest  terror  and  anxiety 
prevailed  lest  the  French  should  land,  Perthes  sent 
to  desire  that  I  would  instantly  send  him  a  certain 
small  box,  that  lay  on  his  writing-table.  As  1  was 
running  down  the  stairs  with  the  box  in  my  hand,  I 
felt  sure  that  it  was  filled  with  poison.  I  desired  the 
messenger  to  wait,  and  went  to  my  room  to  decide 
what  I  ought  to  do,  for  this  great  matter  was  thus 
committed  to  me  ;  it  was  a  dreadful  moment.  My 
horror,  lest  Perthes  should  fall  alive  into  the  hands  of 
the  French  overcame  me  ;  and  it  appeared  to  me  that 
God  could  not  be  angry  with  him  for  not  willing  this  ; 
and  then  the  injustice  of  my  deciding  a  matter  between 
him  and  his  God,  seemed  so  great,  that  with  trembling 
hands  and  knees,  I,  in  God's  name,  gave  the  box  to 
the  messenger.  Many  hours  elapsed  before  I  heard 
anything  further.  It  was  poison,  and  poison  prepared 
for  the  purpose  I  had  feared,  but  not  for  Perthes,  who 
assured  me  before  God  that  he  should  not  have  thought 
it  lawful,  and  was  displeased  with  me  for  having  so 
misunderstood  him." 

Tettenborn  had  entirely  forfeited  the  confidence  of 
the  citizens,  from  the  day  on  which  he  had  given  up 
the  islands  to  the  enemy.  Many  saw  that  he  was  not 
the  man  to  whom  the  defence  of  the  city,  under  such 
circumstances,  should  have  been  committed  ;  and  many 
feared  that  in  the  loss  of  Hamburgh  he  would  see  little 
more  than  the  unlucky  termination  of  a  boldly  planned 
and  luckily  commenced  Cossack  adventure.    From  the 


167 


city  authorities  no  aid  was  to  be  expected  ;  tlie  warlike 
preparations  which  had  been  made,  had  been  carried 
into  effect  without  their  cooperation.  The  appearance 
of  the  French  on  the  Elbe  had  rendered  the  problem 
that  Herr  von  Hess  was  to  solve,  far  too  difficult  for 
him.  All  eyes  were  looking  for  foreign  aid.  As  this 
was  neither  to  be  expected  from  the  great  army  of  the 
allies,  nor  from  the  corps  under  Walmoden,  posted 
between  Boitzenburg  and  Magdeburg,  hope  was  now 
fixed  upon  the  Danes.  They  had  in  Altona,  at  the 
very  gates  of  Hamburgh,  an  adequate  force,  and  as 
from  the  end  of  March  they  had  entertained  the  hope 
of  being  indemnified  by  the  possession  of  the  Hanse- 
towns  for  the  loss  of  Norway,  they  declared  themselves 
willing  to  undertake  the  defence  ;  but  it  was  not  till 
the  evening  of  the  11th  of  May,  when  the  danger  had 
become  imminent,  that  Tettenborn  availed  himself  of 
their  offer  of  assistance. 

Danish  troops  now  marched  in  to  the  relief  of  the 
besieged.  But,  unfortunately,  at  the  same  time  Count 
Joachim  Bernstorff  returned  from  London,  whither  he 
had  been  sent  to  treat  respecting  the  entrance  of  Den- 
mark into  the  general  alliance.  He  had  been  sharply 
recalled  ;  for  Denmark,  having  been  led  to  believe  that 
she  could  escape  heavy  losses  only  by  reliance  on 
Napoleon,  felt  herself  compelled  to  espouse  his  cause  ; 
and  thus,  on  the  19th  of  May,  the  Danish  troops,  in 
obedience  to  orders,  abandoned  Hamburgh, and  assumed 
a  more  than  equivocal  attitude  in  Altona. 

In  this  dilemma,  Tettenborn  placed  his  hopes  upon 
Sweden.  The  Crown-Prince  of  that  country  had  not 
yet  indeed  arrived  at  Stralsund,  but  a  Swedish  divi- 
sion lay  in  Mecklenburg,  under  the  command  of  Gen- 


168  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

eral  Dobbeln,  a  man  of  dauntless  courage  and  genuine 
integrity.  On  his  own  responsibility,  and  at  his  own 
risk,  he  marched  into  Hamburgh,  on  the  evening  of 
the  21st  of  May,  with  three  battalions.  No  sooner, 
however,  had  the  Crown-Prince  arrived  at  Stralsund, 
than  having  learned  that  the  Swedish  troops  were 
enclosed  on  one  side  by  the  French,  on  the  other  by 
the  Danes,  he  ordered  their  immediate  retreat,  and 
thus  Hamburgh  was  once  more  left  to  itself.  General 
Dobbeln,  for  his  independent  and  irregular  conduct, 
was  condemned  to  death. 

Early  in  May,  the  conviction  of  the  desperate  posture 
of  affairs  had  forced  itself  upon  Perthes.  "  How 
should,  how  can  this  end  ?  "  he  wrote.  "  The  desire 
which  we  have  to  do  our  best  is  all  that  we  have  to 
rely  upon.  I  will  not  speak  of  the  people  who  act  as 
though  they  wished  to  neutralize  all  our  efforts  ;  but 
what  avails  courage  when  there  is  not  one  citizen 
among  us  who  knows  anything  of  military  movements, 
or  even  of  the  use  of  arms,  and  when  no  soldiers  are 
sent  to  us  with  whom  we  might  incorporate  ourselves  ? 
Our  neglect  of  our  good  old  guard  for  so  many  years 
past  is  fearfully  avenged  now.  If  we  had  but  three 
battalions  of  burghers,  who  could  go  through  military 
drill,  and  were  good  marksmen  ;  if  we  had  but  a  hun- 
dred young  fellows,  who  knew  how  to  manage  a  can- 
non, we  might  still  be  saved ;  but  now  our  preservation 
depends  upon  strangers." 

Perthes  knew  but  too  well  what  was  to  be  expected 
from  such  quarters.  Of  all  the  citizens,  he  was  the 
only  one  who  was  acquainted  with  the  political  situ- 
ation of  Russia  and  Denmark,  and  only  he  and  Von 
Hess  possessed  any  information  about  that  of  Sweden. 


CAROLINE'S   ESCAPE   FROM   HAMBURGH.  169 

In  the  meanwhile  the  turn  that  European  affairs  had 
taken,  had  cut  off  every  chance  of  foreign  aid  ;  and, 
on  the  26  th  of  May,  the  day  after  the  retreat  of  the 
Swedish  force,  Tettenborn's  intention  of  leaving  the 
city  to  its  fate  became  known. 

"  The  hours  pass  in  uncertainty,  dear  Caroline," 
wrote  Perthes,  "  and  thus  bring  sorrow  and  difficulty. 
This  evening  will  bring  certainty,  and  two  days  hence 
you  must  leave  the  city." 

With  the  departure  of  Tettenborn  every  hope  of  suc- 
cessful resistance  vanished.  In  these  circumstances, 
Perthes  saw  it  to  be  his  duty  to  make  preparations 
for  escape,  in  the  hope  of  working  for  Germany 
in  some  other  place,  and  through  Germany  for  Ham- 
burgh . 

"I  consider  the  thing  as  decided,"  he  wrote  to 
Benecke,  "  and  can  only  place  my  trust  in  God.  Fare- 
well, beloved  friend,  I  shall  hardly  be  able  to  see  you 
again.  I  am  going  into  the  wide  world  with  a  preg- 
nant wife  and  seven  children,  without  knowing  where 
at  the  end  of  a  week  I  may  find  bread  for  them  ;  but 
God  will  help  us." 

Once  more,  on  the  27th  of  May,  a  ray  of  hope  shone 
out,  when,  at  the  urgent  instance  of  Tettenborn,  Wal- 
moden  despatched  the  brave  Prussian  battalion  to 
Hamburgh,  to  take  part  in  the  defence  of  the  city. 
"  Our  position  is  twice  twenty-four  hours  older  than  it 
was  the  day  before  yesterday,"  wrote  Perthes  to  Be- 
necke,— "does  that  imply  that  it  is  better?  I  think 
not.  Nevertheless,  we  must  keep  up  from  hour  to 
hour ;  I  am  not  yet  disposed  to  give  up  all  hope  of 
deliverance." 

On  the  evening  of  the  28th  of  May,  Perthes  sent 
8 


170  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

away  his  wife  and  cliildreii  to  Wandsbeck  ;  there,  in 
the  Danish  territory,  they  were  safe  from  the  perils  of 
war. 

In  a  letter  of  some  weeks'  later  date,  to  her  friend 
Emily  Petersen  in  Sweden,  Caroline  thus  Writes  con- 
cerning these  sad  days  : — "  You  can  form  no  concep- 
tion of  the  anguish  and  dismay,  the  hopes  and  fears,  of 
our  last  three  weeks  in  Hamburgh.  My  heart  is  full, 
and  I  rejoice  to  be  able  to  tell  you  how  much  more 
kindness,  truth  and  fortitude  we  all  evinced,  than  we 
had  supposed  ourselves  capable  of.  We  may  speak  of 
it  now,  for  it  has  been  proved  by  exposure  to  want 
and  danger.  How  heartily  do  I  thank  God  for  this 
experience !  I  never  knew  how  strong  we  are  when 
all  concentrate  their  energies  on  one  point.  Dear 
Emily,  I  never  before  felt  such  a  universal  '  willing  ^  in 
one  direction.  We  were  all  elevated  above  small 
troubles  and  difficulties,  and  desired  only  the  one 
thing  needful,  and  desired  that  with  all  our  heart, 
each  one  in  his  own  way,  and  without  any  doubt  of 
obtaining  it.  The  28th  of  May,  the  birth-day  of  my 
Agnes,  was  the  last  I  spent  in  Hamburgh  ;  then  I  bade 
farewell  to  my  dear  sitting-room,  with  a  sad,  and  yet  a 
thankful  heart.  I  had  sent  the  beds  and  linen  to 
Wandsbeck  some  days  before,  and  the  rest  of  the 
things  I  had  either  hidden  or  given  away  ;  the  larger 
pieces  of  furniture  we  were  indeed  obliged  to  leave 
behind,  because  Perthes  would  not  discourage  the 
burghers  by  making  them  aware  of  our  preparations 
for  escape." 

Caroline  had  left  the  city  but  a  few  hours,  when,  on 
the  night  of  the  28tli  of  May  the  firing  recommenced. 
The  enemy  had  passed  over  from  Wilhelmsburg  to  the 


Caroline's  escape  from  hamburgii.         171 

isle  of  Ochsenwarder,  and  had  attacked  the  Lauenburg 
battalion  posted  there  with  irresistible  fury. 

"  The  battle,"  wrote  Perthes  to  his  wife,  "  which  be- 
gan at  two  o'clock,  still  rages  on  Ochsenwarder,  and, 
as  far  as  we  can  observe,  the  smoke  become^  more  and 
more  distant :  we  hope  the  best,  for  it  has  already 
lasted  five  hours."  And  again,  a  little  later, — "  We 
have  no  certain  tidings  yet ;  the  fight  continues. 
Trust  me  still,  and  believe  that  God  is  in  my  heart, 
and  before  my  eyes.  How,  in  my  circumstances,  could 
I  act  otherwise  than  I  do  ? — how  could  I  have  ap- 
peared before  you  ?  That  I  repress,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  outburst  of  sorrow  and  of  feeling,  is  for  your  sake ; 
for  one  hour  of  feeling  does  me  more  injury  than  ten 
nights  of  watching,  and  I  desire  to  spare  myself  for 
you  and  for  the  children." 

After  an  arduous  struggle,  the  French  remained 
masters  of  Ochsenwarder,  the  island  immediately  op- 
posite the  city,  and  there  were  now  but  few  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  their  triumphant  reentrance.  The  Da- 
nish commandant  at  Altona,  at  the  same  time  signified 
on  the  29th,  that,  in  case  of  his  being  compelled  to 
proceed  to  hostilities,  it  would  not  be  in  his  power  to 
give  more  than  two  hours'  notice.  The  greatest  ex- 
citement prevailed  during  the  whole  of  that  sad  day. 
At  one  time  it  was  announced  that  Tettenborn  had 
commenced  his  retreat ;  then  this,  again,  was  contra- 
dicted. Perthes  was  on  guard  at  the  Steinthor  with 
Yon  Hess ;  they  were  walking  backwards  and  for- 
wards in  earnest  conversation  a  little  after  ten  o'clock 
at  night,  when  Major  von  Pfuel  drove  through  the 
gate  and  invited  Von  Hess  to  accompany  him  into  the 
city,  saying  to  Perthes  that  he  would  not  detain  him 


172  CAROLINE   PEIITHES. 

long.  About  half  an  hour  later,  when  Perthes  was  to 
have  met  and  concerted  measures  with  Mettlerkamp, 
(commanding  the  burgher-battalion  posted  at  the  Stein- 
thor,)  in  case  of  a  night  attack,  he  was  ordered  by  an 
officer  to  repair  immediately  to  Herr  von  Hess  at  the 
Hiihnerpost,  distant  about  a  mile  and  a  half.  On 
reaching  this  station  about  midnight,  he  learned  that 
Tettenborn,  with  his  whole  force  had  retreated  from 
Hamburgh,  and  had  conveyed  his  troops  in  safety  to 
Lauenburg,  leaving  the  city  to  its  fate.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  30th  of  May,  and  only  a  few  hours  after  the 
retreat  of  Tettenborn,  the  Danes  entered  Hamburgh, 
and  saved  the  citizens  from  the  vengeance  of  Davoust, 
acting  as  a  friendly  and  mediating  power,  and  formally 
putting  him  in  possession  of  the  city. 

On  hearing  this  sad  news  from  Hess,  Perthes  had 
set  out  for  Wandsbeck  ;  there,  at  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  he  told  his  wife  that  all  was  lost,  and  ap- 
pointed Niitschau,  the  residence  of  his  friend  Moltke, 
as  her  next  place  of  refuge.  The  French  troops  were 
now  within  a  few  hundred  paces  of  Wandsbeck.  To 
escape  a  prison,  and  a  rebel's  death  by  the  hangman's 
hand,  Perthes  himself  drove  on  through  Rahlstadt 
under  cover  of  the  night. 


XVI. 

^^ikm,  1813. 

T  was  impossible  for  Caroline  to  remain  long 
at  Wandsbeck.  In  a  letter  written  somewhat 
later  to  her  sister  Jacobi  at  Salzburg,  she 
says, — "  As  soon  as  Perthes  had  taken  leave 
of  me  in  his  flight,  I  began  to  pack,  and  then, 
exhausted  as  I  was,  set  out  with  my  seven 
children  and  the  nurse,  in  a  light  open  car- 
riage. It  was  a  very  affecting  parting  ;  my  mother 
could  not  control  herfeelings,  and  my  father  was  deep- 
ly moved  ;  the  children  wept  aloud  ;  I  myself  felt  as 
if  turned  to  stone,  and  could  only  say  continually, — 
'  Now,  for  Heaven's  sake!'  My  sister  Augusta  went 
with  me,  to  comfort  and  to  assist  me  ;  truly  willing  to 
share  my  labors  and  anxieties.  In  the  morning  we 
arrived  at  Niitschau,  where,  finding  only  two  beds  for 
ten  persons,  I  was  obliged  to  divide  our  cloaks  and 
bundles  of  linen,  so  that  the  children  might  at  least 
have  something  under  their  heads." 

Yet,  on  the  evening  of  this  day,  Caroline  contrived 
to  write  a  few  lines  to  her  parents, — "  I  can  only  wish 
you  good-night,"  she  said, ''  for  I  am  so  weary  in  mind 
and  body,  that  I  can  neither  think  nor  write.     If  I 

(173) 


174  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

had  but  met  Perthes  here  this  evening,  safe  and  sound, 
as  I  had  hoped,  I  believe  I  should  have  forgotten  all 
my  sorrow.  I  am  still  cold,  and  hard  as  a  stone,  and 
shrink  from  the  thought  of  the  thawing.  I  felt  all 
day  as  if  everybody  were  dead,  and  I  was  left  alone  on 
the  earth.  These  have  been  weeks  of  life-and-death 
struggle  ;  God  help  every  poor  man  who  is  in  trouble 
of  mind  or  body  in  these  eventful  times  !" 

On  the  first  of  June  Perthes  arrived.  "And  now," 
says  Caroline,  "  we  wished  to  pause  and  consider 
where  we  should  go,  and  what  we  should  do  ;  but  my 
brother  John  came  and  told  us  that  our  friends  advised 
us  to  lose  no  time,  but  to  go  farther  away,  as  our 
house  at  Hamburgh  had  been  searched,  and  Nutschau 
was  too  near  to  Lubeck.  Perthes  set  out  at  once,  and 
again  I  began  to  pack  up,  and,  on  the  3d,  I  left  for  Ltit- 
genburg,  to  be  en  route  for  Augustenburg  if  need  were.'' 

Perthes,  accompanied  by  his  eldest  son  Matthias, 
had  reached  Altenhof,  near  Eckernforde,  on  the  Baltic, 
the  estate  of  Count  Caius  Reventlow.  *'  I  was  so  un- 
affectedly and  kindly  welcomed  by  the  Count  and 
Countess,"  he  wrote  to  Caroline,  "  that  it  gave  me 
genuine  pleasure.  The  Count  will  give  up  Aschau  to 
us  ;  it  is,  I  am  told,  a  dreary  place  ;  but  I  think  it  will 
do  very  well." 

On  Monday,  the  7th  of  June,  the  husband  and  wife 
met  again  at  Eckernforde.  "  Here  we  wept  freely  to- 
gether," wrote  Caroline,  *'  which,  in  all  our  trouble, 
we  had  never  been  able  to  do  before." 

Thence  the  whole  family  removed  to  Aschau,  a  sum- 
mer villa  on  the  Baltic,  belonging  to  Count  Revent- 
low,  and  made  themselves  as  comfortable  as  they 
could.    "  And  there,"  wrote  Caroline,  "  I  for  a  while 


CAROLINE   AND    HER   CHILDREN.  175 

forgot  all  our  troubles  for  joy  that  I  had  got  my  Per- 
thes, and  I  can  truly  say  that  we  were  inexpressibly 
happy  in  each  other.  I  thought  neither  of  the  past 
nor  of  the  future,  but  thanked  God  incessantly,  and 
rejoiced  that,  out  of  all  these  perils.  He  had  brought 
my  husband  to  me,  safe  and  sound.'^ 

Perthes  had  lost  everything.  His  shop  in  Ham- 
burgh was  sealed,  his  other  property  was  sequestrated, 
and  his  dwelling-house,  after  being  plundered  of  every 
movable,  was  assigned  to  a  French  general.  Ready 
money  for  the  support  of  his  wife  and  family  he  had 
none. 

"  Do  not  suppose  that  I  complain,"  he  wrote  to  his 
Schwartzburg  uncle  ;  "  he  who  has  nothing  to  repent 
of  has  also  nothing  to  complain  of.  I  have  acted  as  in 
the  presence  of  God  ;  I  have  often  risked  my  life^  and 
why  should  I  be  dispirited  because  I  have  lost  my  for- 
tune ?  God's  will  be  done  !  I  do  not  yet  see  how  I 
am  to  provide  bread  for  my  wife  and  children  in  a  for- 
eign land.  In  the  meantime,  if  I  receive  but  two- 
thirds  of  my  outstanding  claims,  I  shall  be  able  to  ful- 
fil all  my  engagements  ;  but  in  our  country  no  one  is 
in  a  position  to  pay,  and  I  dare  not  press  my  demands 
in  the  French  dominions,  and  thus  I  may  not  be  able 
to  avoid  bringing  others  into  difficulty  ;  this  to  me  is 
a  great  cause  of  grief" 

Letters  from  creditors  now  came  in  from  all  parts, 
and  there  is  none  in  which  such  expressions  as  the 
following  may  not  be  found,  "  Do  not  think  of  my 
claims  at  present ;  I  know  as  well  as  you  do,  that 
when  you  can  pay,  you  will  ;  you  acted  as  you  were  in 
duty  bound  to  act." 

By  the  help  of  the  business  books,  which  had  been 


176  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

brought  away,  Perthes  managed  to  get  a  tolerable  in- 
sight into  his  position,  he  made  such  arrangements  as 
were  possible  in  the  circumstances,  and  endeavored,  at 
all  events,  to  secure  the  creditors,  through  the  debtors 
of  the  house.  By  exerting  himself  to  the  utmost  he 
accomplished  this. 

"  He  works  from  morning  to  night,"  wrote  Caroline, 
"  with  the  exception  of  an  hour  after  dinner,  which  we 
devote  to  thinking  over  our  position,  or  rather  to 
sleep  ;  for  we  rise  at  four  o^clock,  and  require  some 
repose  during  the  day.  Perthes  is  perfectly  clear  and 
calm,  and,  I  may  say,  in  some  respects  more  cheerful 
than  formerly,  and  so  am  I,  while  he  is  with  me." 

Perthes  received  strength  and  encouragement  from 
the  expressions  of  respect  and  consideration  that  were 
conveyed  to  him  from  all  sides  :  "  What  I  hear  of  you 
inspires  me  with  the  deepest  respect,"  wrote  the  Duke 
of  Augustenburg,  "  and  your  indomitable  spirit  fills 
me  with  admiration,  and  I  esteem  it  as  an  honor  and 
pleasure  to  have  an  opportunity  of  saying  this  to  you. 
Your  belief  in  a  higher  world  is,  indeed,  a  great  matter  ; 
it  is  this  belief  alone  which  is  the  source  of  your 
strength." 

No  sooner  had  Perthes  set  his  affairs  in  order,  so 
far  as  circumstances  permitted,  than  he  was  informed 
by  the  Danish  Government  that  it  would  be  impossible 
for  them  to  protect  him,  in  the  event  of  his  being  de- 
manded by  the  French  ;  and  that  he  must  leave  As- 
chau.  It  was  true  that  the  truce  concluded  on  the  4th 
of  June,  between  the  Allies  and  Napoleon,  kept  the 
sword  in  the  scabbard  for  the  next  few  weeks  even  in 
North  Germany  ;  but  Perthes,  who  from  his  solitary 
retreat  could  see  nothing  of  the  state  of  external  re- 


CAROLINE  AND  HER  CHILDREN.        177 

lations,  desired  to  attain  to  such  a  knowledge  of  the 
position  of  affairs,  as  might  aid  him  in  forming  some 
plan  for  himself,  after  the  expiration  of  the  truce.  A 
number  of  influential  men  of  all  kinds  were  assembled 
in  Mecklenburg,  and  thither  he  proposed  to  repair  ; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  he  hoped  to  secure  resources  for 
the  present  support  of  his  family,  by  collecting  many 
outstanding  debts  due  to  him  in  that  place. 

In  a  letter  of  Caroline's,  she  says,  "  When  we  had 
spent  a  few  weeks  together  at  Aschau,  Perthes  said  to 
me  that  matters  were  not  yet  settled,  and  that  he  must 
be  off,  in  order  to  provide  for  our  sustenance.  Then 
it  was  that  the  scales  fell  from  my  eyes  ;  I  knew,  with- 
out asking,  what  Perthes  intended  to  do — what,  in- 
deed, he  was  compelled  to  do,  and  once  more  I  became 
exposed  to  all  my  former  sorrows.  Perhaps  it  would 
be  weeks,  perhaps  months,  perhaps  we  should  be  in  the 
world  above,  before  I  saw  him  again.  I  feared  for 
myself ;  for  I  believe  that  with  him  I  can  bear  all 
things,  but  without  him  I  know  not  what  will  become 
of  me.  Ah  !  and  my  soul  is  filled  with  sorrow,  anx- 
iety, and  care,  on  his  account.  You  know  how  ear- 
nestly I  have  desired  more  rest  and  leisure  for  him, 
and  now  that  he  has  lost  all  that  he  had  earned  in 
seventeen  toilsome  years,  he  must  take  up  the  yoke 
again,  and  he  will  feel  it  to  be  heavier  than  ever. 
Pray  for  me  that  I  may  not  grow  faint-hearted." 

On  Thursday,  the  8th  of  July,  under  the  shade  of  the 
gloomy  pine  trees  of  Aschau,  Perthes  took  leave  of 
Caroline.  "  It  was  the  most  painful  parting  of  my 
life,"  he  wrote  at  the  time ;  and  a  journal  which  begins 
with  this  parting,  and  contains  little  else  except  short 
notices  of  facts,  opens  with  these  words,  "  I  enter  again 
8* 


178  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

into  the  world,  into  a  new  and  unknown  world,  full 
of  great  possibilities,  and  also  full  of  perils,  but  I  have 
spirit  and  courage  to  meet  them  cheerfully.  Resigna- 
tion to  the  will  of  God,  firm  convictions  and  rich  ex- 
perience, a  heart  full  of  love  and  youthful  feeling, 
truth  and  rectitude,  such  are  the  treasures  which  my 
forty  years  of  life  have  given  me  ; — Lord  my  God,  I 
thank  thee  for  them  ;  forgive  a  poor  sinner,  and  lead 
me  not  into  temptation," 

The  two  elder  children,  Agnes  and  Matthias,  accom- 
panied Perthes  to  Kiel  ;  here  he  met  Besser,  and 
travelled  with  him  by  Liitgenburg  to  the  little  town 
of  Heiligenhafen,  situated  on  the  shore  of  the  Baltic. 
The  feelings  of  his  heart  found  expression  in  many 
letters  written  from  that  place.  "About  five  miles 
beyond  Liitgenburg,  the  aspect  of  the  country  changes 
entirely,''  he  says  in  one  letter  :  "  all  becomes  wild  and 
rugged,  and  the  little  inn  of  Brock  el  is  a  very  picture 
of  desolation — not  even  a  blade  of  grass  does  the 
barren  wilderness  produce.  The  host  lay  in  his  coffin ; 
strangers  were  listlessly  conducting  the  business  :  even 
the  poodle  at  the  door  was  hardly  to  be  called  a  dog, 
and  though  the  color  was  evidently  intended  for  black, 
it  had  got  no  farther  than  the  dark  grey  of  the  sur- 
rounding scenery.  But  when  we  get  over  a  few  hills 
we  come  again  into  another  world.  There  are,  indeed, 
neither  trees  nor  hedges,  but  the  land  is  covered  with 
the  most  glorious  crops  of  green  corn,  and  between 
the  boundless  green  of  earth,  and  the  boundless  light 
of  the  sky  above,  stretches  a  sea  of  the  deepest  blue, 
blending  and  liarmonizing  all.  On  the  shore,  looking 
inland,  it  becomes  darker,  till  we  reach  the  horizon, 
where  it  becomes  brighter  and  more  transparent,  melt- 


CAROLINE  AND  HER  CHILDREN.        179 

ing  into  the  light  of  heaven.  At  my  side  stands  in 
spirit  my  beloved,  blessed  Otto  Runge,  to  point  out  to 
me  all  the  mysteries  and  wonders  that  nature  hides 
and  reveals." 

Perthes  was  soon  left  alone  in  Heiligenhafen,  for 
Besser  was  obliged  to  return.  "  For  many  weeks 
past,"  he  wrote  to  Poel,  "  one  member  after  another  of 
the  old  life  has  been  removed  from  me ;  farewells 
follow  hard  upon  each  other:  now  Besser,  too,  is  gone, 
and  as  the  door  closed  after  him,  I  felt  as  if  the  coffin- 
lid  were  shut  down  upon  me,  and  I  had  passed  from 
the  old  to  a  new  world  ;  but  love  and  memory  are 
fresher  and  more  sacred  in  me  than  ever.  I  mean  to 
go  next  to  Rostock,  in  order  to  find  out  what  there  is 
for  an  honest  and  upright  man  to  do  in  these  momen- 
tous times.  I  have  seriously  put  it  to  my  conscience  as 
in  the  sight  of  God,  whether  or  not  I  should  listen  to 
the  inward  voice  which  impels  me  to  rush  again  into 
the  tumult  of  life,  and  I  find  that  I  must  follow  it.  It 
is  not  ambition  that  urges  me,  for  under  any  circum- 
stances I  shall  fall  back,  if  I  am  spared,  upon  the 
business  I  love.  My  still  youthful  heart  is  animated 
with  an  enthusiastic  hatred  of  our  oppressors,  and  to 
this  my  religion  allows  me  to  give  full  scope.  Still, 
as  I  am  not  a  military  man,  and  have  no  scientific 
knowledge,  and  as  there  is  no  want  of  brave  and 
strong  men,  I  shall  not  enter  the  army  ;  but  if  any 
leader  were  in  want  of  a  man  who  is  accustomed  to  see 
liis  way  througli  complicated  relations,  and  who  would 
unite  the  candor  of  a  friepd  witli  the  obedience  of  a 
subordinate  and  the  duties  and  labors  of  an  adjutant, 
I  would  shun  no  danger  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  such  a 
post :  Caroline  would  forgive  mo,  and  I  should  leave 


180  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

to  my  children  a  legacy  of  honor.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  on  my  arrival  in  Mecklenburg,  I  find  things  and 
persons  in  a  state  which  seems  to  make  it  my  duty  to 
keep  aloof  from  them,  I  shall  then  pay  attention  to  my 
own  concerns  first ;  go  with  my  wife  and  children  to 
Sweden  for  the  winter,  and  in  the  spring  to  England, 
where  I  am  sure,  in  a  very  short  time,  to  achieve  in- 
dependence by  following  my  calling." 

Perthes  was  detained  nearly  a  week  in  a  small  house 
at  Heiligenhafen,  the  extreme  point  of  Germany,  by 
the  prevalence  of  a  strong  east  wind,  which  in  spite 
of  the  bright,  beautiful  weather,  prevented  any  craft 
from  putting  to  sea.  "  A  severe  trial  of  patience,"  he 
said,  "  but  since  we  suffer  so  much  from  men,  why  not 
from  nature  also  ?"  On  the  17th  of  July  the  wind 
changed,  and  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  Perthes, 
in  company  with  some  other  Hamburghers,  and  Cur- 
tius.  Recorder  of  Lubeck,  sailed  in  a  driving  storm 
from  Kiel  across  to  Warnemiinde,  a  seaport  town  near 
Eostock. 

"  So  I  am  again  on  land,"  he  wrote  to  Caroline 
"  after  a  glorious  passage !  How  I  delight  in  those 
noble  waves !  My  deepest  feelings  are  called  forth  by 
them,  and  I  become  cheerful  and  courageous.  I  feel  as 
if  I  were  in  my  proper  element.  The  waves  were  long 
and  high,  so  that  the  open  boat  which  just  held  us  ten, 
was  now  poised  on  the  edge  of  the  billow,  now  deep 
in  the  trough  of  the  sea.  By  the  time  it  grew  dark, 
all  the  passengers  and  one  of  the  boatmen  became 
sea-sick  ;  I  remained  well.  At  eleven  o'clock  that 
night,  the  strong  gale  had  driven  us  to  the  point  of 
Warnemiinde,  but  the  skipper  was  afraid  to  run  in  ;  so 
we  cruised  about  in  the  dark  till  morning.  '  Nothing 


CAROLINE  AND  HER  CHILDREN.        181 

was  to  be  seen  but  the  monster  billows  which  yawned 
for  us  in  all  varieties  of  horrid  shapes.  At  dawn  we 
found  ourselves  I}- ing  immediately  opposite  to  Admiral 
Hope's  ship,  a  colossus  of  seventy-four  guns,  surrounded 
by  two-and-twenty  other  large  vessels  all  bearing  the 
flag  of  England.  Far  off  across  the  sea  the  moon  cast 
a  strip  of  silver  light,  and  the  rayless  sun  a  reflection 
of  glowing  red.  I  never  received  such  impressions  of 
the  sublime  as  during  that  short  voyage.'' 

At  this  time  tidings  came  from  Hamburgh  that  a 
general  pardon  had  been  proclaimed.  Ten  men,  how- 
ever, were  excepted,  among  whom  was  Perthes.  "  I 
thank  you  from  my  heart,  my  beloved  Perthes,"  wrote 
Caroline,  "  that  your  name  stands  among  the  names  of 
the  ten  enemies  of  the  tyrant.  This  will  bring  us  joy 
and  honor  as  long  as  we  live." 

The  general  pardon  failed  to  protect  the  city  from 
the  atrocities  of  Davoust.  Bad  as  these  appeared  in 
July,  they  had  not  then  reached  their  height.  "  It  will 
do  some  good,"  said  Perthes,  "  for  if  it  had  not  been 
for  this,  the  old-fashioned  spiritless  people  would  have 
relapsed  into  ^he  indolent  let-alone  habits  of  their  for- 
mer life — still  it  is  terrible,  and  it  cuts  one  to  the  very 
soul  when  one  hears  of  such  horrors." 

But  still  more  grievous  than  the  fate  of  particular 
cities  was  the  miserable  condition  of  Germany.  The 
uncertainty  as  to  the  results  of  the  truce  filled  all 
hearts  with  uneasiness.  Would  it  end  in  a  desperate 
renewal  of  the  struggle,  or  in  a  disgraceful  peace  ? 
Would  Austria  join  the  allies,  or  preserve  her  neu- 
trality ? 

'    During  the  next  month  Perthes  was  actively  engaged 
in  reviving  the  Hanseatic  Legion,  and  in  taking  meas- 


182  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

ures  for  the  defence  of  the  Hanse-towns,  and  for  their 
full  recognition  as  an  important  political  element  in 
North  Germany.  He  was  well  aware  that  no  step  of 
an  important  kind  could  be  attempted  without  the 
support  of  Prussia,  and  it  was  therefore  with  consider- 
able satisfaction  that  he  discovered  the  opposition  be- 
tween the  Government  and  the  people,  which  now  be- 
gan to  manifest  itself.  To  the  Privy  Councillor 
Scharnweber,  who  possessed  the  entire  coufidence  of 
the  Prussian  Chancellor,  he  sent  a  full  statement  of  the 
position  of  Nortli  Germany,  and  concluded  with  these 
words  : — "  I  build  my  hopes  of  deliverance  for  North 
Germany  almost  exclusively  on  the  Prussian  nation — 
on  the  earnestness,  on  the  real  German  spirit,  and  the 
freedom  which  it  is  developing  ;  and  whatever  may  be 
the  particular  tendencies  and  aims  of  the  government 
of  the  day,  they  must,  and  will  be  overmastered  by  this 
spirit.  Of  your  own  personal  desire  and  the  influence 
you  possess,  I  am  well  aware,  most  excellent  sir,  and  I 
therefore  commend  our  affairs  to  your  protection.  If 
you  take  up  our  cause,  we  have  gained  a  point  d^appui 
such  as  we  need."  It  was  amid  this  complication  of 
cares,  of  labors,  and  of  doubts,  that  on  the  10th  of 
August,  the  truce,  which  had  for  a  time  sheathed  the 
sword  in  North  Germany,  came  to  an  end. 


XVII. 


^N  the  17th  of  August,  hostilities  recommenced 
between  Walmoden  and  Davoust.  Walmoden, 
whose  division  formed  the  extreme  right  wing 
of  the  northern  army,  under  the  command  of 
the  Crown-Prince  of  Sweden,  was  forced  to 
retreat,  and  by  the  end  of  August,  the  enemy 
had  taken  "Wismar,  Gadebusch,  and  Schwerin. 
But  early  in  September,  Davoust  himself  was  com- 
pelled to  withdraw  altogether  from  Mecklenburg,  and 
to  fix  his  head-quarters  at  Ratzeburg  during  the  rest 
of  the  month  ;  while  Walmoden  sent  strong  recon- 
noitring parties  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Elbe,  and,  on 
the  16th  of  September,  cut  to  pieces  a  body  of  7000 
French  on  the  Gohrde,  occupied  Liineburg,  and  made 
incursions  into  the  Hanoverian  territory.  Thus,  when 
at  the  beginning  of  October,  Davoust  assembled  the 
main  body  of  his  army  on  the  Elbe  between  Lauenburg 
and  Hamburgh,  he  found  himself  menaced  by  Walmo- 
den's  troops  on  the  side  of  Hanover,  as  well  as  from 
Mecklenburg. 

During  these  months  of  hope  and  fear,  Perthes  found 
full  employment  at  his  post  in  the  Burgher-Guard, 
and  in  the  Hanseatic  Directory,      The  maintenance 

(183) 


184  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

of  the  Burgher- Guard  he  considered  as  a  matter  of  the 
first  importance,  both  for  the  future  external  position 
and  inward  development  of  the  cities.  It  seemed  to 
afford  the  only  means  of  diverting  the  burgher  mind 
from  the  one  object  of  trade  and  commerce,  and  of 
cherishing  a  vigorous  self-reliant  spirit,  by  means  of 
which  the  narrow  city-life  might  expand  into  something 
wider  and  more  national.  But  to  be  in  a  position  for 
accomplishing  this  task,  when  it  should  return  to  the 
citizen-life,  the  Burgher-Guard  must,  in  the  meanwhile, 
have  obtained  general  confidence  and  respect,  and  this 
was  only  to  be  won  by  active  cooperation  in  the  strug- 
gle. General  Yegesack's  appointment  of  this  force  for 
garrison-duty  at  Rostock,  in  the  rear  of  the  contending 
armies,  was  consequently  regarded  by  Perthes  as  an 
unfortunate  arrangement.  He  says  to  Mettlerkamp  on 
the  3d  of  September, — "  We  have  sworn  to  risk  our 
lives  for  the  liberty  of  the  cities,  and  the  hour  is  come. 
Our  brethren  in  the  legion  are  ahead,  we  dare  not 
draw  back.  We  burghers  of  the  cities  entreat  to  be 
led  out  to  war  ;  not  because  our  little  contingent  can 
add  any  weight  to  the  army  :  it  is  for  our  own  sake  we 
ask  it."  On  the  following  morning  he  laid  before  the 
officers  and  privates  a  petition  addressed  to  General 
Yegesack,  requesting  to  be  led  into  the  field  at  once. 
It  was  signed  by  the  whole  corps,  but  the  General  de- 
clared that  he  could  not,  without  the  most  urgent  neces- 
sity, consistently  with  the  dictates  of  his  own  con- 
science or  with  his  duty  to  the  future  authorities  of  the 
Hanse-towns,  oppose  to  the  enemy  a  force  composed 
almost  entirely  of  heads  of  families.  The  Burgher- 
Guard  accordingly  remained  in  garrison  during  the 
months  of  September  and  Oc'.ober,  in  Wismar,  Gres- 


THE  wife's  trials*  185 

sow,  Calsow,  and  Grevismiihleii,  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
foe,  but  without  participation  in  the  strife. 

Perthes  had  taken  a  considerable  part  of  the  labors 
of  the  Hanseatic  Directory  upon  himself.  These  were 
continually  increasing,  on  account  of  the  growing  ne- 
cessity of  procuring  fresh  supplies  of  money  from  Eng- 
land and  Germany  to  provide  for  the  support  of  the 
destitute  exiles  who  were  daily  receiving  additions  to 
their  numbers.  The  universal  confidence  in  his  integ- 
rity and  his  conscientiousness,  was  increased  by  the 
circumstance  of  his  having  thought  it  his  duty  dis- 
tinctly to  refuse  every  kind  of  support  for  himself. 

The  views  of  the  Hanseatic  Directory  met  with 
strong  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  Conservatives  of 
Hamburgh,  who  wished  to  see  the  old  constitution  re- 
stored. It  seems  to  have  been  Sieveking  who  first  saw 
the  danger  that  might  accrue  to  the  future  independence 
of  the  cities  from  this  jealous  opposition.  In  a  letter 
written  from  Berlin  on  the  19th  of  September,  he  says, 
"  We  have  laid  before  the  Crown-Prince  the  Memorial 
relating  to  the  measures  which  may  be  rendered  neces- 
sary in  the  event  of  Hamburgh  being  placed  under 
military  authority.  But  I  must  confess,  dear  Perthes, 
that  many  an  anxious  foreboding  has  accompanied  this 
step.  The  future  independence  of  the  Hanse-towns 
seems  to  me  to  be  so  absolutely  contingent  on  their 
internal  tranquillity,  and  on  the  result  of  the  interven- 
tion of  the  Princes,  that  I  would  ratlier  decline  the 
avowal  of  our  helplessness,  and  shrink  from  provoking 
the  strife  of  burghers  or  admitting  the  interference  of 
princes,  even  with  tlie  purest  intentions.  Let  us  keep 
our  heads  clear  and  our  hands  free,  so  that  the  fall  of 
the  Hanse-towns,  which  is  perhaps  a  necessary  result 


186  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

of  the  tendencies  of  the  age,  be  not  placed  to  our  ac- 
count. Let  us  not  reckon  too  much  on  the  indifference 
of  our  narrow-minded  fellow-citizens  ;  there  is  fire 
enough  under  the  ashes  ;  and  3'Ou  know  as  well  as  I, 
that  Providence  often  makes  use  of  the  ideal  in  legisla- 
tion to  lead  blinded  men,  by  little  and  little,  to  political 
suicide.  I  am  not  sufficientl}'  acquainted  with  Ham- 
burgh to  come  to  a  conclusion  as  to  the  possibility  or  im- 
possibility of  restoring  the  old  constitution  ;  but  I  am 
sure  that  it  is  only  in  the  event  of  its  impossibility,  that 
we  should  be  justified  in  hazarding  much  in  the  hope  of 
gaining  much  ;  and  even  then  we  must  remember  that 
we  are  are  playing  a  game  of  chance.  The  reaction 
which  is  now  fast  manifesting  itself,  confirms  my  con- 
viction  of  the  necessity  of  avoiding  every  appearance 
of  innovation." 

The  danger  of  attempting  to  carry  out  constitutional 
changes,  by  means  of  foreign  assistance,  was  increased 
by  a  rumor  that  Yon  Hess  had  availed  himself  of  his 
credit  with  the  English  Ministers,  to  induce  them  to 
take  the  Burgher- Guard  into  the  pay  of  England ; 
thus  throwing  the  power  of  framing  the  new  constitu- 
tion into'  bis  own  hands.  Rumor  was  also  busy  with 
reports  of  similar  designs  on  the  part  of  the  Crown- 
Prince  of  Sweden. 

At  the  sight  of  these  opposing  forces,  the  influence 
of  which  he  could  not  avert,  Perthes  was  greatly  per- 
plexed. "  It  is  a  momentous  time,"  he  wrote,  "  and  I 
am  able  to  comprehend  it ;  but  the  man  often  sinks 
into  melancholy,  and  then  all,  all  appears  vain  and  mis- 
erable— all  is  falsehood,  deceit,  and  illusion.  Through 
such  dark  seasons  a  man  must  pass,  they  are  part  of 
human  destiny  ;  and  even  he  who  was  without  sin  was 


THE  WIFE^S  TRIALS.  181 

pleased  to  endure  the  like.  I  could  not  tell  you  in  a 
thousand  pages,  my  Caroline,  all  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  that  pass  through  my  head  in  the  course  of  the 
day  ;  my  days  are  often  sad  enough.  How  hard  it  is 
to  present  truth  in  its  purity !  it  receives  the  coloring 
of  each  individual's  mind,  and  of  each  individual's 
weaknesses  and  follies.  How  weak  and  corrupt  are 
men,  even  the  good !  If  man  were  not  a  poor  sinner, 
he  might  regard  himself  as  a  god." 

And  in  another  letter,  "  May  God  enable  me  to  do 
what  is  right,  and  keep  me  from  self-exaltation.  I 
will  preserve  my  integrity  ;  I  will  look  upon  my  fa- 
therland with  a  good  conscience,  and  will  return  to 
our  city  with  an  open  countenance  and  head  erect." 

The  stirring  events  between  the  expiration  of  the 
truce  and  the  middle  of  November,  had  demanded  from 
Perthes  mental  and  physical  exertions  and  sacrifices 
of  all  kinds  ;  but  it  had  also  been  rich  in  experiences 
both  of  heart  and  life.  Naturally  disposed  to  self-con- 
fidence, he  had  learned  that  his  powers  were  limited  ; 
"  but,"  he  said,  "  I  have  at  the  same  time  learned  that 
the  voice  of  an  honest  man  is  a  mighty  power,  and  has 
great  influence." 

There  were  seasons  when  the  impressions  made  on 
him  by  the  great  agitation  throughout  Prussia,  and  the 
battles  which  were  then  being  fought — remarkable 
both  in  themselves  and  in  their  consequences — render- 
ed it  difficult  for  him  to  preserve  his  sympathy  and  his 
energies  for  circumstances  which,  when  compared  with 
the  momentous  events  of  the  times,  were  petty  and  cir- 
cumscribed. Many  of  his  friends  desired  a  wider 
sphere  of  action  for  him. 

"  Would  to  God,"  wrote  Niebuhr,  ''  that  you  would 


188  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

now  step  forth  as  a  statesman  in  our  fatherland !  I  call 
to  every  one  who  has  ears  to  tell  me  how  you  can  in 
future  be  brought  into  the  administration  of  Germany." 
Perthes,  on  the  contrary,  was  convinced  that  he  was, 
by  the  previous  course  of  his  life,  unfitted  for  working 
for  great  things  except  in  a  small  circle  ;  and  since  he 
was  excluded  from  any  immediate  participation  in  the 
great  affairs  of  Germany,  he  rejoiced  the  more  in  the 
confidential  relations  in  which  he  stood  towards  the 
most  eminent  men  of  the  North.  He  possessed  the  per- 
sonal confidence  of  Generals  Walmoden,  Dornberg, 
and  Yegesack,  as  well  as  of  the  Hereditary  Prince  of 
Schwerin,  and  Lieutenant- Colonel  Witzleben  who  re- 
quested his  intervention  in  numberless  cases,  when 
fresh  supplies  were  to  be  procured,  intricate  questions 
to  be  determined,  or  young  troops  to  be  animated  and 
encouraged.  The  young  men  of  the  Legion  were  de- 
voted to  him  heart  and  soul,  and  clung  to  him  with 
childlike  affection  and  confidence.  They  delighted  in 
the  sympathy  of  the  slender,  delicately-formed  man, 
who  never  shrank  from  the  endurance  of  any  hardship 
with  them,  who  took  part  in  all  their  joys  and  perils, 
and  who  never  spared  earnest  and  friendly  remon- 
strances in  the  hope  of  preserving  them  from  the  reck- 
less license  of  a  wild  and  irregular  soldier-life.  Per- 
thes repaid  their  affection  with  the  most  cordial  recog- 
nition. It  was  not  without  some  mixture  of  personal 
pride  that  he  heard  Witzleben  and  other  experienced 
officers  praise  the  cheerful  patience  under  hardships, 
and  the  daring,  even  foolhardy  rashness  of  the  attack 
of  the  newly-formed  legion  :  he  excused  their  occasion- 
al wildness  as  the  exuberance  of  a  poetical  enthusiasm. 
Tears  stood  in  his  eyes  on  receiving  a  letter  from  Wit- 


THE  wife's  trials.       '  189 

zleben,  in  which  the  General  wrote, "  The  infantry  fought 
like  lions,  my  dear  Perthes,  in  yesterday's  battle  at 
Mollner  Wood,  and  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  with  their 
conduct ;  they  have  revived  the  glory  of  the  old  Han- 
sa."  Perthes  writes  on  one  occasion,  "  I  see  many  fine 
youths  here,  who  are  developing  noble  qualities.  The 
blessing  of  God  will  rest  upon  our  youth,  and  through 
them  He  will  make  all  right ;  such  is  my  firm  convic- 
tion, and  it  is  my  happiness  that  all  our  dear  young 
people  cling  to  me  like  children." 

But  the  active  and  stirring  life  of  three  months  was 
pervaded  by  a  deep  and  heartfelt  sorrow,  arising  from 
the  position  of  his  wife  and  children.  He  had  been 
obliged,  as  we  have  seen,  to  leave  them  in  the  begin- 
ning of  July  at  Aschau,  a  farm  belonging  to  the  Count 
Caius  Reventlow.  There,  near  the  farm-house,  and  in 
the  middle  of  the  wood,  close  to  the  sea,  stood  the 
summer-house  which  had  been  the  refuge  of  Caroline 
and  her  children,  consisting  of  a  sitting-room  and  a 
few  small  bed-rooms.  The  farmer  was  the  only  inhabi- 
tant within  a  circle  of  four  miles. 

In  a  letter  written  some  time  afterwards  to  her  sis- 
ter at  Salzburg,  Caroline  says,  ''  We  could  get  nothing 
from  the  farmer,  kind  as  he  was,  but  milk  and  butter ; 
bread,  soap,  salt,  oil,  and  so  forth,  were  not  to  be  had 
within  four  miles,  and  my  sister  Augusta,  with  the  two 
elder  children,  had  to  fetch  them.  For  eighteen  weeks 
we  had  neither  meat  nor  white  bread  in  the  house. 
What  was  called  the  kitchen  was  about  forty  paces 
from  the  house  ;  our  cooking  -utensils  consisted  of  four 
copper  pots,  a  bowl,  and  a  few  plates.  Fortunately,  I 
had  brought  our  spoons  with  me,  and  I  purchased  a  few 
knives  and  forks  ;  everything  else  we  did  without." 


190  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

"And  yet,"  she  says,  in  another  letter,  "  we  are  rich  in 
comparison  with  many  others,  for  we  have  a  hundred 
thousand  times  more  than  nothing." 

Caroline's  confinement  was  expected  in  a  few 
months.  The  eldest  of  her  children  was  a  daughter 
of  fifteen,  and  the  youngest,  a  boy,  did  not  yet  run 
alone.  The  eldest  son,  Matthias,  walked  every  morn- 
ing at  seven  o'clock  to  Altenhof,  a  distance  of  three 
miles,  to  receive  instruction  with  the  sons  of  Count 
Reventlow.  The  education  of  the  rest  was  in  the 
meantime  interrupted.  One  old  and  faithful  servant 
had  remained  with  them,  and  their  means  did  not 
allow  them  to  engage  a  second.  The  damp  garden- 
house,  with  its  twelve  windows  down  to  the  ground, 
and  unprovided  with  shutters,  brought  ailments  of  all 
sorts  upon  the  children  during  the  moist,  rainy  season, 
and  Caroline  herself  was  often  laid  upon  a  sick-bed. 
There  was  a  friendly  old  farrier  at  Eckernforde,  but 
no  physician  nearer  than  Kiel,  a  distance  of  at  least 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles. 

The  deserted  wife,  however,  met  with  sympathy  and 
comfort.  Her  sister  Augusta  was  ready  for  every 
emergency  by  night  or  by  day,  *'  and  the  families  of 
Count  C.  Reventlow  and  Count  C.  Stolberg,  vie  with 
each  other,"  writes  Caroline,  "  in  their  attention,  and 
in  the  readiness  they  manifest  in  lending  us  assistance 
in  our  need.  No  words  can  describe  the  kindness  of 
our  dear  friends  at  Altenhof  and  Windebye."  The 
children,  too,  while  adding  to  her  anxieties,  ministered 
no  less  to  her  strength  and  happiness.  "  They  re- 
freshed me  in  my  distress,  each  in  his  own  way,  and 
out  of  the  simple  and  genuine  affection  of  their  liearts, 
— the  little  Bernard  not  excepted,  who  is  often  at  a 


THE   wife's   trials.  191 

loss  to  find  expression  for  his  love.  I  am  indeed  con- 
vinced from  experience  that  God  can  give  us  no 
greater  joy,  or  sorrow,  than  through  a  loving  and  be- 
loved child.  Nothing  else  so  i^vives  and  sustains  the 
heart,  and  shames  us  into  energy.  This  I  have  ex- 
perienced a  thousand  times  ;  and  I  scarcely  think  that  I 
could  have  continued  mistress  of  myself,  if  God  had 
not  given  me  my  angel  Bernard,  and  in  him  a  living 
image  of  childish  love  and  confidence.  When  I  was 
in  deep  affliction  and  anxiety  on  account  of  Perthes, 
and  in  sorrow  for  my  eight  childrerf  entering  upon 
life  deprived  of  a  father's  counsel  and  affection,  I  was 
often  on  the  brink  of  despair.  And  when  at  such 
times  I  folded  my  dear  Bernard  in  my  arms,  and  look- 
ed into  his  clear  infant  eyes,  and  saw  that  he  was 
neither  troubled  nor  afraid,  but  calm,  sweet,  and  lov- 
ing, I  found  faith  again,  and  prayed  to  God  that  I 
might  become  even  as  my  dear  child." 

The  kindness  of  friends  and  the  love  of  her  children, 
might  indeed  uphold  her  against  the  heavy  pressure 
of  external  circumstances,  but  when  her  anxiety  for 
her  absent  husband  was  aroused,  she  could  not  be  com- 
forted. The  communications  with  Mecklenburg  being 
interrupted,  letters  from  Perthes  were  seldom  received, 
while  the  most  contradictory  and  exaggerated  reports 
were  in  circulation,  as  to  the  position  he  had  assumed, 
and  the  dangers  with  which  he  was  encompassed. 
Caroline's  mind  meanwhile  was  full  of  the  saddest 
forebodings  :  in  a  future  that  did  not  seem  far  off,  she 
pictured  her  children  fatherless  and  motherless,  help- 
less and  forsaken.  Her  grief  is  revealed  in  letters 
evidently  written  under  the  deepest  melancholy  : — "  I 
have  need  of  hope,"  she  writes  to  Perthes,  "  for  the 


192  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

present  is  mournful,  and  my  condition  and  circum- 
stances are  more  serious,  and  my  sense  of  desola- 
tion is  greater  than  you  in  the  midst  of  so  much  activity 
and  hopeful  labor  can  realize.  If  I  am  to  spend 
my  time  here  alone,  if  I  am  to  remain  here  with- 
out tidings  of  you,  while  I  know  you  to  be  exposed  to 
constant  danger,  I  cannot  survive.  I  cannot  sufficient- 
1}^  impress  on  you,  my  Perthes,  the  importance  of  mak- 
ing such  arrangements  as  may  prevent  our  being 
separated  during  the  coming  winter.  I  solemnly 
assure  you,  that  it  is  an  act  of  injustice  to  leave 
me  here,  without  the  most  urgent  necessity.  ...  I  am 
surrounded  by  darkness  and  perplexity,  and  I  see  be- 
fore me  a  sad  and  painful  death-bed,  to  which  I  may  at 
any  moment  be  called  ;  but  I  will  not  despair.  May 
God  protect  and  preserve  you  to  us  ;  we  will  pray  for 
you  by  night  and  by  day." 

In  a  letter  written  somewhat  later,  she  says,  "  If  you 
love  me,  take  care  that  in  the  event  of  my  death,  my 
children,  especially  my  little  children,  be  intrusted  to 
the  care  of  those  who  will  teach  them  to  love  God, 
without  knowing  that  they  are  learning  it.  This  is 
the  main  point,  and  to  little  ones  everything  else  is 
comparatively  unimportant  :  their  hearts,  in  which  so 
much  lies  dormant,  are  first  to  be  opened.  Ah, 
my  Perthes !  may  God  help  us  to  awaken  the  love  of 
Himself  in  our  children,  whether  we  are  to  live  to- 
gether or  apart  in  this  world.  My  hand  trembles,  and 
I  can  write  no  more." 

At  other  times  her  anxiety  for  the  life  of  her  hus- 
band overcame  the  thought  of  her  own  approaching 
hour  of  danger  : — *'  How  can  I  persuade  myself  that 
you,  my  dear  Perthes,  will  be  preserved  to  me  ?"  she 


THE  wife's  trials.  193 

writes ;  "  God  takes  away  thousands  of  husbands  as 
much  beloved  by  their  wives  and  children  as  you  are 
by  us.  Perthes,  my  dear  Perthes  !  to  fulfil  your  slight- 
est wish  would  be  my  only  pleasure,  were  you  to  be 
taken  from  me,  and  I  were  to  have  the  misery  of  being 
left  in  the  world  without  you.  Tell  me,  then,  more  of 
your  views  regarding  the  children,  and  of  what  I  can 
do  to  please  you." 

The  quiet  energy  and  self-command  with  which 
Caroline,  even  in  her  deepest  affliction,  presided  over 
her  household,  and  the  expressions  of  courage  and 
resignation  which  filled  many  of  her  letters  written  to 
women  who,  like  herself,  were  victims  of  the  events  of 
the  time,  had  impressed  her  friends  with  the  convic- 
tion, that  even  if  the  worst  should  befall  her,  her 
peace  of  mind  would  still  remain  unshaken.  To  her 
husband,  whom  she  had  always  found  a  sure  refuge  in 
circumstances  of  trial,  she,  indeed,  gave  vent  to  her 
oppressed  heart  in  frequent  complaints  ;  but  amid  her 
complainings  she  as  often  gave  utterance,  without 
seeming  to  intend  it,  to  the  language  of  patience. 

Thus  she  writes  in  one  of  her  letters  to  Perthes, — 
"  I  have  the  firm  conviction  that  my  trust  in  God  will 
never  fail,  but  I  cannot  always  rejoice  in  the  will  of 
God,  and  I  cannot  make  up  my  mind  to  resign  you 
without  tears,  and  without  the  deepest  anguish  :  you 
are  too  entirely  my  all  in  this  world  ;  but  believe  me, 
I  do  not  murmur,  I  only  weep,  and  I  am  yours  for 
eternity." 

But  it  was  only  at  long  invervals  that  these  letters 
came  into  the  hands  of  Perthes,  and  his  answers  some- 
times lost,  sometimes  carried  from  place  to  place  for 
months  together,  afforded  no  help  to  Caroline  in  form- 
9 


194  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

ing  her  plans,  and  little  or  no  support  in  her  solitude. 
To  transport  his  wife  and  children  to  Mecklenburg 
in  the  midst  of  the  confusion  of  war.  was  impossible, 
and  to  have  visited  them  in  Holstein,  he  was  assured 
by  the  Danish  authorities,  would  have  involved  peril 
to  life  or  liberty.  Perthes  was,  moreover,  fully  per- 
suaded that  he  was  in  the  path  of  duty.  "  I  follow  the 
voice  of  God  and  duty,"  he  says  in  one  of  his  letters, 
"  and  that  voice  is  now  clearer  and  more  distinct  than 
ever  ;"  but  the  privations  and  anxieties  to  which  he 
knew  his  family  to  be  exposed  did  not  on  this  account 
affect  him  the  less. 

"  Never,  my  Caroline,"  he  writes,  '^  permit  yourself 
to  think  that  my  love  for  you  and  for  the  children  is 
one  whit  less  warm  or  deep  than  that  of  those  who  are 
anxiously  striving  to  preserve  their  lives  for  the  sake 
of  their  families.  There  are  seasons  in  which  the 
whole  weight  of  the  anxieties  which  await  us  in  the 
future,  and  of  the  sorrow  that  is  involved  in  the  pres- 
ent, presses  heavily  upon  me.  Your  task  is,  indeed,  a 
hard  one,  but  mine  is  not  light.  Have  patience,  be  calm 
and  self-possessed,  my  beloved  Caroline,  trust  to  ray 
sense  and  prudence,  and  leave  the  event  to  God.  When 
we  took  leave  of  each  other,  you  wished  to  know  what 
was  to  become  of  the  children  in  the  event  of  my 
death.  It  is  not  well  to  make  minute  arrangements 
which  are  to  have  effect  long  after  our  death,  for  life 
is  always  changing,  and  any  disposition  we  can  make, 
may  thus  turn  out  unsuitable.  I  trust  to  your  wisdom, 
your  energy,  and  your  affection,  and  I  pray  to  God  to 
give  you  what  you  want ;  and  that  is,  tranquillity.  If 
I  have  a  wish,  it  is  that  you  and  the  children  should 
live  near  Nicolovius,and  that  Matthias  should  remain 


THE  wife's  trials.  195 

under  the  tuition  of  Twesten  for  five  or  six  years- 
But  man  proposes,  God  disposes." 

*'  Thank  God,"  he  says,  in  another  letter,  "  that  you, 
my  darlings,  and  my  only  earthly  treasures,  are  well. 
Dear  Caroline,  what  a  vast  wilderness  the  world  be- 
comes when  man  has  no  home  I  That  which  I  wanted 
as  a  youth  I  want  now,  but  in  a  different  way.  In  my 
youth  you  stood  before  me,  the  object  of  my  love  and 
desire,  like  some  fairy  enchantment  ;  I  behold  you 
again  in  my  thoughts,  but  it  is  in  all  the  reality  of 
your  truth  and  worth,  and  I  cannot  reach  you.  These 
times  are,  indeed,  wonderful  and  interesting,  but  it  is 
hard  to  be  without  a  home,  and  the  sad  hours  that  I 
spend  apart  from  you,  shifting  for  myself,  are  too  many. 
....  The  sight  of  little  children  always  brings 
tears  into  my  eyes." 

"  God  will  help  me,"  he  writes  again  ;  "  I  dare  not 
leave  what  I  have  undertaken.  I  am  not  so  blinded 
by  vanity  and  folly  as  not  to  see  that  my  own  want  of 
ability  and  experience,  as  well  as  my  age  and  my  pre- 
vious calling,  unfit  me  for  military  life,  especially  con- 
sidering that  there  is  no  lack  of  brave  young  men  ; 
but  it  is  my  business  to  lift  up  my  voice  for  truth  and 
justice,  as  opportunity  offers,  and  to  show  that  the  will 
of  God  is  not  altogether  forgotten,  in  spite  of  the  sin- 
fulness and  weakness  that  everywhere  impede  its  clear 
and  perfect  recognition.  That  in  times  such  as  these, 
when  the  struggle  betwixt  good  and  evil,  truth  and 
falsehood,  is  so  fierce,  a  man  cannot  hope  to  achieve 
anything  without  risking  much  ;  that,  in  order  to  do 
homage  to  truth  and  right,  a  man  must  be  ready  to 
give  up  heart,  and  life,  and  fortune,  and  estate — that^ 


196  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

my  noble  wife,  you  know  as  well  as  I.  I  have  cour- 
age, and  energy,  and  moderate  desires,  and  I  am  at 
peace  with  God  and  with  myself.  I  can  pray  as  I 
never  prayed  before,  and  I  pray  much.  My  much- 
loved  Caroline,  take  courage  and  be  calm  :  God  will 
help  you,  and  me  also." 

Again,  he  writes, "  It  seems  as  if  God  were  blessing 
all  my  undertakings.  Indeed  much  has  been  achieved, 
many  things  have  received  form,  and  in  more  than  one 
instance  harmony  and  stability  liave  been  secured  by 
my  efforts  ;  but  it  is  not  only  in  its  results,  as  they  af- 
fect the  one  great  national  object,  that  our  separation 
has  been  useful :  it  has  also  enabled  me  to  assist  many 
individuals  known  and  unknown.  Large  sums  of  mon- 
ey are  placed  at  my  disposal,  and  thus  I  am  able  to  aid 
the  distressed  not  only  with  sympathy  and  advice,  but 
also  with  substantial  assistance.  Yes,  dear  Caroline, 
all  the  inducements  that  can  move  a  man  to  sacrifice 
every  earthly  possession  in  order  to  work  energeti- 
cally and  actively,  combine  to  stimulate  me  now — 
honor,  gratitude,  affection,  freedom,  love  of  action. 
Comfort  yourself,  as  I  do,  by  thinking  on  what  has 
been  done." 

On  the  17th  of  September  Caroline  and  her  children 
had  left  Aschau  for  Kiel,  where  Count  Moltke  had 
given  up  to  them  the  apartments  which  he  usually  oc- 
cupied when  he  was  staying  in  that  city.  There  Car- 
oline found  indeed  medical  help,  friends  and  relations  ; 
but  she  had  still  to  endure  the  most  severe  privations 
from  the  want  of  money.  Her  own  illness  and  that 
of  her  children  added  to  her  sorrows.  Her  anxiety 
for  the  fate  of  her  family,  in  the  event  of  her  not  sur- 


197 


viving  her  confinement,  was  also  increased  by  her  to- 
tal ignorance  of  her  husband's  circumstances,  and 
even  of  his  place  of  residence. 

From  tlie  7th  of  August  to  the  2d  of  October  she 
was  without  tidings  of  him,  and  knew  not  whether  he 
were  alive  or  dead.  Towards  the  end  of  October  she 
wrote, "  I  struggle  ever  more  and  more  to  keep  thought 
and  fancy,  heart  and  yearning,  under  control,  but  oh, 
my  beloved,  I  suffer  inexpressibly  !" — and  then  after 
details  concerning  the  children,  she  adds,  "  I  tell  you 
everything,  for  you  should  know  how  things  actually 
stand,  that  you  may  be  able  to  do  what  is  right  in  the 
circumstances  ;  but  I  do  not  write  thus  to  induce  you 
to  draw  back.  I  take  God  to  witness,  who  is  more  to 
me  than  even  you  are,  that  I  do  not  wish  you  to  do 
anything  but  your  duty." 

These  last  words  were  conveyed  to  Perthes  with  un- 
usual rapidity,  and  within  a  few  days  he  was  trans- 
ported to  a  sphere  of  action  which  enabled  him  to  as- 
sure his  wife  that  she  had  now  nothing  to  fear  for  his 
life,  for  that  he  was  employed  on  a  peaceful  mission. 


XVIII. 

iIRCUMSTANCES  arose  which  rendered  it 
desirable  that  Perthes  should  remove  to  Bre- 
men, to  prosecute  there  his  labors  on  behalf 
of  the  Hanse-towns.  With  all  the  zeal,  the 
untiring  energy,  and  the  self-sacrifice  which 
we  liave  already  seen  him  display,  he  con- 
tinued to  labor  until  he  was  deputed  to  rep" 
resent  the  Hanse-towns  at  the  Diet  of  Frankfort, 
where  the  affairs  of  Germany  were  to  be  deliberated 
upon.  On  the  3d  of  December,  in  company  with 
Sieveking,  his  fellow-deputy,  he  left  Bremen,  and  on 
the  8th  reached  Frankfort. 

On  the  following  day  Perthes  had  the  satisfaction 
of  obtaining  from  Baron  von  Stein,  in  a  long  and  very 
candid  conversation,  the  most  positive  assurances  of 
the  Independence  of  the  three  towns.  "  The  Germanic 
Empire,"  said  Stein,  "  will  be  restored  ;  but  till  peace 
is  concluded,  it  is  not  advisable  to  proceed  to  any  defi- 
nite arrangements,  lest  we  should  thereby  give  rise 
to  misunderstandings.  But  the  feeling  of  the  great 
allied  powers  is  entirely  favorable  to  the  Free  Cities  ; 
they  will  not  be  subjected  to  any  prince,  but  will  pre- 
serve their  independent  place  in  the  empire.  They 
have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  Crown-Prince  of  Swe- 

(198) 


THE   HAMBURCxH   SUFFERERS.  199 

den ;  he  and  his  intrigues  are  well  known."  He 
highly  approved  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Hanseatic 
Directory,  and  considered  it  as  a  matter  of  justice  that 
a  Provincial  Committee  should  be  appointed  for  Ham- 
burgh, in  order  to  carry  out  the  requisite  changes  in 
the  Constitution."  Stein  entirely  agreed  with  Perthes 
in  his  opinions  respecting  the  Elsfleth  duty.  '*  Duties," 
he  said,  "  imply  no  restriction  on  trade  ;  even  England 
admits  them  ;  only  a  duty  should  not  be  levied  for  the 
benefit  of  a  single  district.  A  regular  scale  of  duties 
should  be  fixed  for  the  whole  empire,  from  Holland  to 
Russia."  "  Stein  spoke  so  freely  and  openly,"  said 
Perthes,  "  that  I  poured  out  my  whole  heart  to  him, 
and  told  him  all  my  feelings  with  reference  to  our 
German  Fatherland  and  our  Hanse-towns,  and  I  soon 
perceived  that  he  listened  to  me  with  pleasure." 

From  Stein  Perthes  and  Sieveking  went  at  once  to 
Herr  von  Pilat,  private  Secretary  to  Prince  Metter- 
nich.  On  the  10th  of  December  the  deputies  were  in- 
troduced by  Pilat  to  Prince  Metternich.  "  The  Prince 
received  us  very  kindly,"  wrote  Perthes,  "  assured  us 
of  the  independence  of  the  Free  Cities,  and  spoke  with 
confidence  of  the  restoration  of  the  Germanic  Empire. 
On  my  observing  that  the  cities  would  not  be  disposed 
to  return  to  a  simple  neutrality  as  before,  but  would 
desire  to  be  included  in  the  Empire  ; "  he  replied,  "  I 
see  that  you,  like  the  rest  of  us,  have  given  up  many 
of  the  chimeras  of  former  days." 

On  the  same  day  tlie  deputation  was  admitted  to  an 
audience  of  the  Emperor  Francis.  "  You  have  suffered 
much,"  he  said,  "  but  matters  are  improving,  for  now 
we  are  all  Germans,  and  I  will  soon  help  you."  Then 
turning  to  Pertlies  and  Sieveking,  he  added,  ''  Yes,  it 


200  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

goes  hard  with  Hamburgh,  and  that  wild  fellow  Da- 
voust  avenges  himself  cruelly,  but  what  I  can  make 
good,  I  will." 

While  the  kind  assurances  of  the  Emperor  had  in- 
creased the  previous  affectionate  attachment  of  the  de- 
puties to  his  person,  the  abrupt  harshness  of  the  King 
of  Prussia,  by  whom  they  were  received  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  was  in  no  way  calculated  to  lessen  the  dislike 
which  was  then  felt  in  North  Germany  towards  the 
Prussian  supremacy.  By  the  Chancellor  Hardenberg, 
by  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt,^  and  by  the  Privy- Coun- 
cillor Hippel,  the  freedom  of  the  Hanse-towns  was 
spoken  of  as  a  political  necessity,  but  a  secret  misgiv- 
ing as  to  the  designs  of  the  Court  of  Berlin  still  re- 
mained. 

Many  were  the  political  impressions  that  Perthes 
received  during  his  short  stay  in  Frankfort.  At  the 
table  of  the  Chancellor  he  met  the  most  distinguished 
personages  of  Prussia  ;  Count  Nesselrode  spoke  kindly 
to  him  of  the  importance  of  the  Hanse-towns  to  the 
trade  of  Europe,  while  the  Hanoverian  Count  Harden- 
berg hastened  to  assure  him  of  his  friendly  feelings. 

"  This  day,"  writes  Perthes,  on  the  16th  of  Decem- 
ber, "terminates  our  journey  of  discovery,  and  we 
have  found  that  the  terra  firma  which  we  sought  is 
not  yet  in  sight ;  but  our  hearts  are  filled  with  grati- 
tude and  praise  to  God,  for  showing  us  how  much 
kindly  feeling  exists  among  the  great  European  pow- 
ers towards  our  Fatherland  and  the  Hanse-towns." 
While  Smidt  remained  at  head-quarters,  Perthes  and 

o  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt,  the  younger  brother  of  Alexander,  dis- 
tinguished as  an  orientalist  and  philologist— and  in  other  respects  aa 
one  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  period. 


THE   HAMBURGH   SUFFERERS.  201 

Sieveking  returned  to  Bremen,  and  arrived  there  on 
the  20th  of  December.  The  Emperors  Francis  and 
Alexander,  and  King  Frederick  William  had  in  writ- 
ing recognized  the  Independence  of  the  Free  Cities, 
and  the  deputies  were  thus  able  to  render  a  joyful  ac- 
count of  their  journey  in  the  Council-hall  at  Bremen, 
where  the  senators  assembled  to  meet  them. 

Perthes  had  been  disappointed  in  his  hope  of  finding 
letters  from  Caroline  at  Bremen  :  he  was  the  more 
anxious,  because  Holstein  had  become  the  seat  of  war. 
Finding  no  letters  at  Bremen,  he  hastened  to  Lubeck, 
carrying  with  him  the  guarantees  of  the  Independence 
of  the  cities.  Here  he  heard  that  Caroline  had  been 
safely  delivered  of  a  son,  Andreas,  on  the  10th  of  De- 
cember. On  Christmas  night  he  travelled  to  Kiel, 
now  no  longer  threatened  by  a  hostile  army,  and  ar- 
rived there  the  next  day  at  five  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. "  Unexpected,  and  in  the  twilight,  he  entered 
my  room,  after  a  separation  of  nearly  six  months," 
wrote  Caroline  :  "  Matthias  saw  him  first.  I  had  the 
happiness  of  restoring  all  the  children  to  him  safe  and 
well,  with  the  addition  of  a  darling,  healthy  infant. 
What  this  was  none  can  know  but  one  who  has  ex- 
perienced it." 

Shortly  after  his  return,  Perthes  was  requested  by 
the  staff-general  of  the  Crown-Prince  of  Sweden,  to 
associate  himself  with  two  other  gentlemen  of  Lubeck 
and  Bremen,  who  were  also  named,  to  administer  the 
large  sum  of  money  which  the  Prince  had  granted  for 
the  relief  of  the  exiled  Hamburghers.  For  this  pur- 
pose, Pertlies  again  left  his  family  on  the  1st  of  Janu- 
uary,  1814 ;  and  in  order  to  be  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  scene  of  suffering,  he  took  up  his  quarters  at  Flott- 
9^- 


202  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

beck,  a  small  town  on  the  Elbe,  about  nine  miles  above 
Hamburgh.  Here  the  situation  of  the  city  revealed 
itself  to  his  eyes  in  all  its  horror. 

While  the  greater  part  of  Germany  had  long  been 
delivered  from  the  French,  Davoust  had  maintained 
himself  in  Hamburgh,  although  confined  within  the 
limits  of  the  city  by  the  besieging  army  of  General 
Benningsen,  who  had  succeeded  to  General  Woronzow, 
towards  the  end  of  December.  What  Davoust  did 
may  perhaps  find  its  excuse  in  his  position  as  a  belea- 
gured  general,  but  the  manner  in  which  he  did  it  could 
only  have  been  devised  by  the  rage  of  a  disappointed 
villain.  He  began  his  cruelties  with  the  robbery  of 
the  Bank,  and  most  cruel  treatment  of  the  burghers. 
On  the  week  following  the  Christmas  festival,  the  sub- 
urbs, all  the  surrounding  villages,  and  the  fine  country 
houses  on  the  Alster,  were  set  on  fire  after  only  eighteen 
hours'  notice,  and  twenty  thousand  people  were  driven 
out  of  the  city  destitute  and  homeless  ;  first  the  young 
and  strong  as  dangerous,  and  then  the  old  and  weak 
as  superfluous.  The  children  were  next  brought  out 
of  the  orphan-house,  the  infirm  poor  from  the  alms- 
houses, the  criminals  from  the  prisons,  and  all  were 
driven  outside  the  gates,  and  there  left  to  their  fate. 
At  mid-day,  on  the  30th  December,  Davoust  gave  orders 
that  the  hospital  in  which  were  eight  hundred  sick  and 
idiots,  should  be  vacated,  and  set  on  fire,  and  by  the 
same  hour  on  the  following  day  it  was  in  flames,  but 
not  till^  through  the  incredible  exertions  of  the  burgh- 
ers, the  helpless  inmates  had  all  been  removed,  while 
bands  of  drunken  soldiers  were  struggling  with  the 
pick  for  their  clothes  and  their  bedding,  and  scenes  of 
reckless  plundering  were  being  enacted  on  every  side. 


THE   HAMBUROH   SUFFERERS.  203 

Tlie  troops,  at  the  same  time,  set  fire  to  the  adjoining 
houses,  and  gave  themselves  up  to  deeds  of  unmitigated 
atrocity.  The  intense  excitement,  and  the  bitter  cold 
of  a  January  night,  cost  six  hundred  of  the  sick  their 
lives. 

The  tidings  of  these  horrors  filled  with  sorrow  and 
indignation  the  minds  of  Perthes  and  his  friends  at 
Flottbeck,  while  the  misery  which  came  under  their 
own  personal  observation  was  equally  lieart-rending. 
For  miles  round,  the  snow-covered  country  presented 
the  appearance  of  a  vast  waste  of  ruins,  above  which, 
here  and  there,  a  wall,  or  a  half-consumed  tree,  might 
be  seen,  while  women  and  children  wandered  about 
amid  the  desolation,  seeking  their  property.  Every 
night  the  sky  was  illumined  by  the  glow  of  freshly- 
kindled  fires.  In  the  streets  of  Altona,  and  in  the 
neighboring  villages,  half- frozen  figures  were  seen 
wandering  about  and  crying  fof  food  and  clothing, 
and  for  shelter  from  the  frost  and  cold,  while  long 
lines  of  the  sick  and  the  aged,  of  women  and  children, 
might  be  seen  on  the  roads  to  Lubeck  and  Bremen, 
under  the  escort  of  a  troop  of  Cossacks,  on  their  way 
to  seek  in  the  sister  cities  the  assistance  they  so  sorely 
needed. 

"  You  will  have  heard  of  the  misery  of  this  district," 
writes  Perthes  to  Caroline,  "  but  no  words  can  give 
any  idea  of  it.  It  must  be  seen  :  all  the  trouble  that 
I  have  witnessed  and  shared  for  the  last  nine  months, 
is  as  nothing  in  comparison.  How  will  it  end  !  May 
God  graciously  shorten  it,  and  bring  us  safely  through 
it." 

Much  was  done  to  alleviate  the  wretchedness  ;  the 
most  strenuous  efforts  were  made  in  Altona,  Br^iu^n^ 


204  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

and  Lubeck ;  contributions  poured  in  from  far  and 
near  ;  a  committee  of  Hamburgh  burghers  made  great 
exertions  at  Altona,  and  those  appointed  to  administer 
the  Swedish  contribution  did  what  they  could  :  "  but 
all  we  can  do,"  wrote  Perthes,  "is  to  relieve  cases  of 
individual  suffering,  we  cannot  meet  all  the  necessities 
of  the  present ;  may  God  save  the  future !  We  must 
in  the  meantime  summon  all  our  energies  to  prevent 
the  burghers  and  the  city  from  sinking  into  depths  out 
of  which  there  will  be  no  possibility  of  raising  them." 
It  seemed  as  though  the  destiny  of  Hamburgh  for 
years  to  come  had  been  sealed,  by  what  had  been 
already  done.  Everything  depended  on  Davoust^s 
abandonment  of  Hamburgh  being  insisted  on,  as  the 
preliminary  condition  of  the  next  truce  or  treaty  be- 
tween the  allies  and  Napoleon.  Perthes  turned  to 
Smidt  with  the  most  urgent  entreaties  that  he  would 
continue  to  press  on  Metternich,  Hardenberg,  and 
Nesselrode,  the  importance  of  making  the  evacuation 
of  Hamburgh  a  preliminary  condition  of  any  treaty 
with  Napoleon.  With  the  same  object  Perthes  availed 
himself  of  his  personal  influence  with  the  Duke  of 
Oldenburg,  to  request  his  mediation  with  the  Emperor 
Alexander.  "  The  Princess,  lately  won  for  Germany, 
appears  at  the  present  crisis  as  a  heaven-sent  deliverer 
among  us,"  wrote  Perthes  to  the  Duke  :  "  one  word  of 
hers  to  her  imperial  brother  may  rescue  thousands 
from  wretchedness  and  suffering."  "  The  Duke  will 
write  to  you  himself,"  replied  Zehender,  "  but  for  the 
present  I  must  tell  you  that  in  all  probability  a  courier 
will  shortly  be  dispatched  to  the  Emperor,  who  will 
carry  with  him  a  good  word  for  the  unhappy  Ham- 
burghers. 


THE  HAMBURGH   SUFFERERS.  205 

Perthes  sought  to  minister  to  the  pressing  wants  of 
the  Burgher- Guard,  by  applying  to  Benningsen  and  to 
his  friends  in  London,  but  without  success.  He  then 
had  recourse  to  a  loan,  by  means  of  which  food  and 
clothing  were  to  a  certain  extent  provided.  He  next 
drew  up  for  Smidt  an  estimate  of  the  losses  that  Ham- 
burgh had  suffered  through  the  French  occupation, 
and  he  was  incessantly  busied  in  bringing  to  Benning- 
sen's  head-quarters,  men  who  could  give  information 
required  by  the  General. 

The  letters  belonging  to  this  period  which  have 
been  preserved,  give  evidence  in  general  of  an  almost 
incredible  number  of  references  made  to  Perthes  dur- 
ing his  residence  in  Flottbeck,  touching  matters  great 
and  small,  far  and  near.  From  the  Russian  and  Swed- 
ish head-quarters,  from  tlie  leading  men  of  Bremen  and 
Lubeck,  from  men  of  all  parties,  and  from  the  unfortu- 
nate, he  received  applications  for  information,  counsel, 
money,  or  for  assistance  in  carrying  out  their  plans. 
Perthes  held  no  office,  he  had  neither  rank  nor  title, 
and  yet  he  appears  at  this  time  to  have  occupied  the 
centre  around  which  all  business  revolved  that  had 
any  bearing  on  the  destiny  of  Hamburgh. 


XIX 


1818. 


|ERTHES  had  passed  the  last  days  in  Flott- 
beck  in  sorrow  and  depression,  working  amid 
many  anxieties.  On  the  I7th  of  January  he 
wrote  to  Caroline,  "  No  letter,  no  word  from 
you,  my  beloved  Caroline — how  is  this?  I 
am  very  unhappy,  and  long  to  be  with  you 
and  the  children  ;  but  I  dare  not  leave,  for  an 
important  decision  may  depend  on  my  presence.  Never 
since  our  departure  from  Hamburgh  have  I  been  so  un- 
happy as  I  now  feel  myself,  and  yet  I  have  no  tidings 
from  you.  Surely  some  great  calamity  has  overtaken 
you.  Is  my  darling  Bernard  still  alive  ? — he  was  un- 
well when  I  left." 

This  child,  a  boy  of  uncommon  beauty  and  vivacity, 
was  indeed  still  alive  when  Perthes  wrote  these  lines, 
but  he  was  even  then  struggling  with  death,  and  within 
two  days  the  Lord  took  him  to  himself.  "  My  dear 
Perthes,"  wrote  Caroline,  immediately  after  the  death 
of  the  child,  "  what  I  feared  has  happened  ;  our  dear 
Bernard  is  very  ill,  and  although  the  physicians  assured 
me  yesterday  evening  that  he  was  not  in  danger,  I  am 
full  of  care  and  anxiety,  and  fear  the  worst.     I  wish 

(206) 


PERTHES   AND    CAUOLIXE    AT   BLANKENESE.        207 

above  all  things,  both  for  3^our  sake  and  for  my  own, 
that  you  were  here.  .  .  .  May  God  be  our  help !  Why 
should  I  conceal  it  longer  from  you  ? — our  angel  is 
with  God — he  died  this  morning  at  half-past  nine.  He 
looks  wonderfully  beautiful,  and  I  implore  you  to  come 
as  soon  as  possible,  that  you  may  see  his  dear  remains 
before  any  change  takes  place." 

Owing  to  the  irregularity  of  the  posts,  Perthes  had 
neither  received  this  letter  nor  a  former  one  acquaint- 
ing him  with  the  illness  of  the  child  ;  and  on  the  21st 
of  January  he  stepped  cheerfully  into  Caroline's  room 
with  the  question,  "  Are  all  well  ?"  "  I  had  to  lead  my 
poor  Perthes  to  the  corpse  of  our  beloved  child,"  wrote 
Caroline  to  her  sister  :  "  his  grief  was  excessive,  and 
my  anxiety  for  Mm  carried  me  through  this  painful 
day." 

Perthes  had  been  only  a  few  hours  in  Kiel  when  he 
received  an  invitation  to  repair  to  the  Russian  head- 
quarters at  Pinneberg,  in  order  to  consult  in  the  name 
of  the  Crown-Prince,  as  to  what  further  measures  ought 
to  be  taken  for  alleviating  the  sufferings  of  the  outcast 
Hamburghers,  and  for  obtaining  the  voluntary  cession 
of  the  city.  "  Called  at  such  a  time  and  under  such 
circumstances,  you  must  go,"  said  Caroline.  But 
Perthes  was  physically  unable.  "  Caroline's  heroic 
spirit  was  greater  than  my  bodily  strength,"  he  wrote. 
He  was  unable  to  leave  the  house  till  the  27th  Janu- 
ary. 

"  Thank  God,  nothing  has  suffered  by  my  absence,'' 
he  wrote  from  Pinneberg.  "  Be  strong,  my  beloved  I 
May  God  spare  us  further  trials.  We  are  quiet  just 
now.  I  have  no  more  to  say  to  you  at  present ;  but  we 
understand  each   other  for  eternity  without  words. 


208  CAROLINE   PERTHES 

May  the  Lord  protect  you  and  my  dear  children,  and 
keep  for  us  those  who  are  now  at  rest." 

The  misery  that  Perthes  met  on  every  side  left  him 
no  time  for  the  indulgence  of  his  own  grief.  He  ex- 
erted himself  to  the  utmost  to  give  unity  to  the  efforts 
which  were  being  made  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of  the 
Hamburghers,  and  was  the  means  of  bringing  into 
operation  a  Central  Relief  Board,  under  the  able  pres- 
idency of  Senator  Abendroth  ;  and  in  this  way  much 
was  effected  for  the  relief  of  the  more  urgent  necessi- 
ties of  the  fugitives.  In  order  to  be  as  near  as  possible 
to  the  seat  of  suffering,  Perthes  had  fixed  his  quarters 
at  Yan  Smissen's  Mill,  near  the  Devil's  Bridge  at  Flott- 
beck.  On  the  9th  of  February  the  Russians  converted 
the  mill  into  a  temporary  hospital  for  their  soldiers, 
and  he  had  to  carry  on  his  work  amid  the  groans  of 
the  wounded  and  the  dying. 

"  My  letter  of  the  7th  of  February,  your  fortieth 
birth-day,  my  still  young  and  ever  youthful  bride,  you 
will  have  received  before  this,"  wrote  Perthes  ;  "  and 
gladly  would  I  have  hastened  to  your  arms  and  pressed 
you  to  my  heart.  Be  comforted,  my  dear  Caroline ! 
True  love  i^  immortal,  and  by  some  bonds  of  love  I  feel 
sure  that  our  departed  little  ones  are  still  united  to  us. 
Here,  since  three  o'clock  to-day,  things  look  very,  very 
serious.  The  French  are  attacked  on  every  side,  at 
Wilhelmsburg,  at  Neuhof,  and  in  Harburg,  and  many 
of  our  people  have  already  been  brought  in  wounded. 
One  fine,  brave  young  fellow,  Volkman,  fell  to-day. 
He  went  out  yesterday  full  of  spirits.  His  father,  a 
stout  artisan,  was  obliged  to  flee  from  Hamburgh  on 
his  account,  and  is  in  deep  distress,  but  is  supported  by 
the  thought  of  the  honor  his  son  has  won  by  his  self- 


PERTHES   AND   CAROLINE   AT   BLANKENESE.        209 

sacrifice.  Close  to  me  lies  a  Russian  captain,  a  man 
upwards  of  fifty  ;  as  the  surgeon  was  cutting  out  the 
ball,  he  said  that  he  felt  the  house  shaking.  And  here 
I  sit  amid  blood  and  moaning,  groans  and  death,  but 
I  trust  in  God  that  the  end  is  approaching.  Here 
come  three  wagons  full  of  wounded,  and  there  is  not 
a  spare  corner  in  the  house.  Nine  corpses  are  now 
lying  in  a  row  in  the  snow  before  my  door.  It  is 
strange  to  look  upon  these  once  wild  men,  now  so  still 
and  tame."  The  misery  of  the  exiles,  and  the  sufferings 
of  the  wounded,  now  that  he  was  brought  into  such 
close  proximity  with  them,  filled  the  heart  of  Perthes, 
already  saddened  by  the  loss  of  his  child,  with  a  horror 
such  as  he  had  never  before  experienced. 

He  was  compelled  to  be  almost  perpetually  in  motion, 
passing  and  repassing  over  ground  covered  with  snow, 
while  suffering  severely  from  a  contusion  on  his  foot, 
which  he  had  received  by  a  fall  from  a  carriage.  A 
dangerous  fever  at  the  same  time  prevailed  in  the  reg- 
iment stationed  at  the  mill,  and  Perthes  carried  the 
germ  of  this  with  him,  when  on  the  16th  of  February, 
he  left  Flottbeck  for  head-quarters,  and  for  Lubeck, 
with  a  view  to  complete  arrangements  for  the  relief  of 
the  destitute. 

He  arrived  in  Kiel  on  the  10  th  of  February,  and 
then  it  was  found  on  examination  that  a  bone  of  his 
foot  was  broken.  "  I  hope  my  future  biographer  will 
record,"  he  wrote  playfully  to  Sieveking,  "  that  I  have 
walked  about  for  nearly  a  fortnight,  and  driven  twenty 
miles  in  a  requisition  wagon,  with  a  broken  bone." 

For  nine  long  weeks  he  was  now  confined  to  bed, 
and  for  the  first  part  of  the  time  was  in  great  danger 
from  a  severe  attack  of  nervous  fever ;  but  a  good 


210  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

constitution  carried  him  through  all,  and  he  had  soon 
only  to  endure  tlie  pain  of  lying  still.  "  Here,"  he 
wrote  to  Besser,  "after  many  journeyings  up  and  down, 
I  have  been  obliged  to  cast  anchor  at  last.  Such  a  fate 
is  hard  to  bear  at  the  present  moment.  If  a  ball  had 
done  it,  one  might  have  been  better  pleased."  His 
spirits,  however,  never  flagged  ;  and  his  wife  could 
write, — •'  My  dear  Perthes  is  always  the  same,  whether 
lying  and  enduring,  or  travelling  and  acting  ;  and 
during  the  whole  period  of  his  confinement,  he  has 
never  been  cross  or  impatient.  I  rejoice  that  he  was 
with  us  when  he  fell  ill,  and  that  I  had  the  happiness 
of  nursing  him.  The  children  were  all  well,  fortu- 
nately, and  we  made  the  best  of  it." 

Intellectual  excitement  was  not  wanting  meanwhile. 
As  soon  as  the  state  of  his  health  permitted,  he  was 
visited  by  his  numerous  friends,  who  passed  many  cheer- 
ful hours  by  his  bedside.  He  took  advantage  also  of 
his  being  laid  aside  from  public  duties  to  consult  with 
Besser,  whose  faithful  friendship  afforded  him  comfort 
and  support  in  this,  as  well  as  in  many  other  seasons 
of  trial,  as  to  the  ways  and  means  of  resuming  their 
business  ;  and  he  gave  himself  up  with  fresh  delight  to 
the  pleasure  of  reading,  of  which  he  had  been  so  long 
deprived.  Nicolovius  directed  his  attention  to  Mean- 
der's "  Life  of  St.  Bernard."  "  Read  Neander's  '  Life 
of  St.  Bernard,'"  he  wrote  ;  "you  will  be  astonished 
at  Neander's  wealth  of  inward  experience,  and  his  ex- 
alted view.  Fr.  Leopold  Stolberg  wrote  to  me  about 
it  with  the  most  enthusiastic  admiration,  inquiring 
whether  the  author  were  old,  or  whether  he  might  be 
expected  to  write  more.  His  popularity  in  the  univer- 
sity here  is  great,  and  his  influence  must  be  good.    It 


PERTHES   AND   CAROLINE   AT  BLANKENESE.        211 

is  touching  to  see  the  simplicity  with  which  he  brings 
forward  the  most  sublime  opinions,  and  the  results  of 
the  most  laborious  study."  But  all  other  objects  of 
interest  were  soon  cast  into  the  shade  by  the  events  of 
the  time.  By  an  active  and  extensive  correspondence, 
Perthes  endeavored  to  bring  order,  harmony,  and  reg- 
ularity into  the  plans  for  the  assistance  of  the  exiles, . 
and  even  from  his  sick-bed  his  efforts  were  attended 
with  success. 

The  conferences  at  Chatillon,  the  fresh  victories  of 
Napoleon,  the  onward  march  of  the  Allies,  their  arri- 
val before  Paris,  were  known  to  him  before  he  had  left 
his  room,  and  many  a  word  of  hope  for  the  future  found 
its  way  to  distant  Kiel.  "We  are  living  in  a  time  of 
miracles,"  wrote  Nicolovius,  in  a  letter  that  the  Coun- 
tess Louisa  Stolberg  transmitted  to  Perthes  ;  "  what 
we,  with  sad  hearts,  desired  for  our  children,  but  never 
dared  to  expect,  we  ourselves  have  lived  to  see.  And 
what  a  glorious  day  this  beautiful  dawn  promises !  A 
generation  that  has  raised  itself  so  high  will  never  sink 
again." 

On  the  9th  of  April,  Perthes  at  length  received  per- 
mission to  leave  his  bed.  On  this  occasion  he  wrote 
to  Max  Jacobi, — "  I  have  borne  this  trial  of  patience 
with  tolerable  composure  and  cheerfulness.  I  have 
been  strengthened  by  the  victory  of  truth  which  is  once 
more  bringing  back  freedom,  order,  and  love  to  man- 
kind. God  is  with  us,  and  all  now  feel  that  they  have 
been  doing  more  than  they  thought." 

On  the  19th  of  April,  Perthes  left  Kiel  with  his 
whole  family,  and  on  the  20th  arrived  at  Blankenese, 
a  fishing  village  a  few  miles  below  Hamburgh,  where 
he  purposed  remaining  till  the  French  evacnated  that 


212  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

place.  Although  the  day  of  Hamburgh's  deliverance 
seemed  uncertain,  it  was  evident  that  it  must  come  in 
the  course  of  a  few  months,  and  in  this  certainty  all 
those  hopes  and  fears  for  the  political  constitution  of 
the  city  that  had  been  thrown  into  the  background  by 
the  pressure  of  the  moment,  now  started  once  more  into 
life. 

The  thoughts  of  all  now  naturally  turned  to  the 
question  of  the  future  constitution  of  the  Hanse-towns. 
As  to  Hamburgh,  Perthes  was  decidedly  of  opinion 
that  some  innovations  should  be  introduced.  He  was 
desirous  above  all  to  see  a  perfect  civil  equalit}^  among 
the  three  confessions,  and  to  infuse  fresh  blood  into  the 
hereditary  Burgerschqft,  by  the  admission  of  deputies 
from  the  hundreds,  the  educated  classes,  and  the  Jews. 
It  was  in  the  executive,  however,  that  he  thought  re- 
form most  indispensable.  But  apart  from  any  refer- 
ence to  his  own  peculiar  views,  Perthes  had  begun  to 
doubt  whether  any  open  party  strife  was  not  likely,  in 
present  circumstances,  to  be  more  perilous  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  city  than  the  restitution  of  the  old  and  de- 
funct constitution.  From  the  headquarters  of  the  Al- 
lies came  an  emphatic  warning  against  all  internal 
division.  "  It  is  all  over  with  the  Hanse-towns,"  wrote 
Smidt,  "  unless  they  see  the  necessity  of  avoiding  all 
that  may  lead  to  foreign  interference.  The  Allies  can 
look  upon  each  city  only  as  one  body  politic,  not  as 
divided  into  factions,  each  of  which  seeks  some  sepa- 
rate object." 

At  this  time  Niebuhr,  irritated  apparently  by  the 
prominence  which  the  Hamburghers  were  giving  to 
their  own  affairs,  and  especially  to  their  own  differ- 
ences, took  a  view  of  the  position  of  Hamburgh  and 


PERTHES  AND  CAROLINE  AT  BLANKENESE.   213 

the  other  Hanse-towns,  and  of  their  claims  in  the  set- 
tlement of  the  general  question  then  engaging  German 
statesmen,  which  caused  a  temporary  estrangement  be- 
tween him  and  Perthes.  "  I  need  not  tell  you  my 
opinion  of  yourself,"  he  wrote  to  Perthes  ;  "  you  have 
done  what  your  friends  expected  of  you  ;  but  we  must 
not  expect  the  historian  to  hear  the  fame  of  an  unwar- 
like  people  like  your  Hamburghers,  whose  thoughts 
are  bounded  by  their  trade  and  whose  city  has  inglo- 
riously  fallen,  made  so  much  of  without  ascribing  it  tc 
a  vain  and  partial  exaggeration." 

"  For  a  long  time,"  wrote  Niebuhr  subsequently, 
"  the  isolated  Hanse-towns  have  existed  by  a  kind  of 
sufferance,  without  any  political  activity  worthy  of  the 
name.  Such  civic  communities,  in  fine,  have  been  con- 
tented with  the  reed's  destiny,  and  have  regarded  it  as 
a  privilege  to  bow  before  the  wind.  Bravery  is  the 
attribute  of  cities  full  of  free  and  vigorous  life,  and 
which  by  virtue  of  their  own  resources  are  capable  of 
defending  themselves.  A  full  and  free  life  is  now  only 
possible  in  great  states,  in  which  all  homogeneous  ele- 
ments are  concentrated." 

Many  passionate  and  hasty  words  passed  between 
the  friends  in  the  spring  of  1814,  and  Perthes  wrote  so 
bitterly  of  Niebuhr,  that  Nicolovius  replied, — *'  I  like 
quarrelling  in  such  times  as  these  as  little  as  you  do, 
and  I  am  convinced  that  in  no  circumstances  are  we 
warranted  in  speaking  hastily,  or  otherwise  than  as 
the  good  spirit  prompts,  and  that  in  this  respect,  as  in 
the  Gospel,  a  mite  is  of  more  value  than  large  gifts  and 
mighty  deeds.  You  must  not  do  injustice  to  Niebuhr 
as  you  do  in  your  last  letter  to  me.  You  make  erro- 
neous combinations,  and  draw  false  conclusions.     €on- 


214  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

tinue  to  him  your  full  and  entire  confidence,  for  he  de- 
serves it.  He  is  not  only  one  of  the  most  profound 
and  most  original  of  men,  but  also  one  of  the  most  up- 
right. He  is  excitable,  and  may,  therefore,  be  occa- 
sionally unjust,  but  he  is  full  of  humility  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  good,  the  great,  and  the  godlike." 

It  was  at  the  price  of  what  then  seemed  an  irrepara- 
ble breach  of  friendship  with  the  man  whose  sympathy 
of  heart  and  mind  had  attracted  him  in  a  period  of 
national  suffering,  that  Perthes  learned  the  inevitable- 
ness  of  a  contest  between  those  who  sought  to  develop 
the  future  destiny  of  Germany  through  the  German 
people,  and  those  who  sought  its  development  by  means 
of  Prussia.  Many  perplexing  anxieties  were,  indeed, 
involved  in  the  prospect  of  such  a  struggle,  but  that 
help  from  above  which  had  wrought  deliverance  in  the 
hour  of  greatest  necessity,  was  notnowto  be  distrusted. 

Nicolovius  warmly  pressed  this  home  to  the  heart  of 
Perthes.  "  As  I  haye  an  opportunity  of  forwarding  a 
letter,  I  send  you  a  few  lines,  my  dear,  noble,  old 
Perthes.  God  above  has  certainly  understood  and 
willed  matters  better  than  the  wise  heads  at  Chatillon, 
who  are  seeking  to  reconcile  themselves  with  the  evil 
one  :  they  don't  know  how  wonderfully  God  helps  when 
we  are  but  in  earnest  in  our  pursuit  of  what  is  truly 
great.  This  great,  and  mighty,  and  all-sufficient  help, 
must  have  given  you  also  new  life  in  heart  and  soul, 
and  is  the  earnest  of  a  glorious  reward  for  all  the 
sacrifices  you  have  made.  Whatever  you  may  hence- 
forth become,  and  I  am  glad  that  you  mean  to  return 
to  bookselling,  no  man  can  take  the  crown  from  your 
head,  or  the  order  from  your  breast,  or  the  conscious- 
ness from  your  heart.     Blessings  a  thousand-fold  await 


PERTHES   AND    CAROLINE   AT   BLANKENESE.       215 

you  in  this  life  ;  such  is  my  belief,  aud  I  hear  the  amen 
from  above  confirming  it." 

On  the  25th  of  May,  the  old  Senate  declared  itself 
restored  to  place  and  authority,  and  on  the  following 
day,  the  hereditary  Biirgerschaft  met,  and  chose  twenty 
men  who  were  to  form  a  commission  for  three  months 
for  the  reorganization  of  the  city.  The  attempts  to 
secure  the  extension  of  the  constitution  and  to  infuse 
greater  energy  into  the  executive  were  thus  resumed. 
"  Henceforward,"  wrote  Perthes,  *'  I  can  have  no  other 
bearing  on  public  affairs  than  such  as  springs  out  of 
my  position  and  rights  as  a  citizen,  and  my  influence 
with  my  friends  ;  and  I  thank  God  from  my  heart  that 
He  has  been  pleased  to  give  me  a  larger  share  of  the 
affection  and  confidence  of  my  fellow-citizens  than  is 
usually  the  lot  of  any  one  who  steps  out  of  the  limits 
of  his  own  immediate  sphere." 

The  day  when  Perthes  and  his  family  were  to  leave 
Blankenese  and  return  to  Hamburgh,  now  drew  nigh. 
"  These  six  weeks  in  Blankenese,  have  been  the  sweet- 
est part  of  my  life,"  wrote  Caroline  to  her  sister. 
"  Perthes  with  me,  the  children  well,  and  the  hope  of 
the  deliverance  of  our  city  gaining  strength  day  by  day. 
Suddenly  the  white  banners  waved  once  more  at 
Harburg  and  from  St.  Michael's  tower  :  in  all  directions 
outcasts  might  be  seen  streaming  into  the  city.  We 
lived  near  the  Elbe,  and  could  see  all  those  who  were 
hastening  back  from  Bremen  and  Hanover.  One  day, 
a  carriage  full  of  little  children,  whose  parents  had 
died  in  the  Hospital  at  Bremen,  arrived  at  our  door. 
Troops  of  starving  people  with  many  children  and  but 
little  luggage,  passed  under  our  windows,  and  it  was 
touching  to  witness  the  love  for  home  and  hearth  that 


216  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

was  manifested,  though,  for  the  most  part,  the  poor 
creatures  could  look  forward  to  nothing  but  trouble 
and  wretchedness.  As  they  came  through  the  country, 
each  silently  broke  a  branch  from  the  trees  by  the 
wayside,  and  bore  it  in  his  hand,  and  old  and  young, 
and  even  little  children,  amid  tears  of  grief  and  shouts 
of  joy,  thanked  God  for  their  deliverance  from  the 
great  and  universal  calamity,  little  thinking  all  the 
while  that  each  brought  his  own  burden  with  him,  and 
that  a  heavy  one.'' 

On  the  31st  of  May,  General  Benningsen  made  his 
entrance  with  the  Russians,  and  the  Burgher-Guard  ; 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  same  day,  Perthes  and  his 
family  left  Blankenese,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  advanc- 
ing troops  returned  through  Altona,  to  the  home  from 
which  they  had  been  driven  a  year  before. 


XX. 

tinm — Jiiwm^K  0I 1814. 


^N  the  31st  of  May,  1814,  Perthes  had  returned 
to  the  home  and  the  city  which  he  at  one 
time  hardly  expected  to  see  again.  Many  an 
anxious  thought  was  mingled  with  his  feelings 
of  gratitude.  "  God  be  praised  that  He  has 
brought  us  thus  far,  that  He  has  stood  by  us 
and  helped  us  in  this  year  of  heavy  trial,"  wrote 
Caroline  to  her  parents  on  the  day  of  her  return.  "  I 
will  be  glad,  and  forget  all,  except  my  dear  Bernard. 
We  have  many  troubles  before  us,  even  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  :  God  grant  that  my  Perthes 
may  be  spared  to  me  with  strength  and  spirits  for  the 
heavy  daily  toil  now  before  him.'' 

It  was,  indeed,  no  easy  task  to  take  up  the  links  of 
the  old  life  after  so  long  an  interval, — an  interval 
filled  with  suffering  and  privation.  Even  to  render 
the  house  habitable  was  a  difficult  undertaking.  The 
pleasant  and  beautiful  apartments  on  the  ground-floor 
had  for  many  months  been  used  by  Frencli  soldiers  as 
guard-rooms.  In  the  middle  of  the  largest  room  was 
a  huge  stove ;  trunks  of  trees  had  been  dragged  in 
through  the  windows  to  feed  it.  All  the  woodwork 
that  could  he  pulled  down  had  been  burnt ;  the  smoke 
had  found  an  outlet  through  the  windows.  The  upper 
10  (217) 


218  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

part  ol  the  house  had  been  inhabited  by  General 
Loison,  but  even  there  the  soldiers  had  conducted 
themselves  so  riotously,  that  the  whole  house  was  little 
better  than  a  heap  of  filth.  All  the  furniture  had  been 
taken  away  ;  some  of  it,  by  kind  friends  who  had  con- 
cealed it  where  they  could,  and  the  rest  by  the  French 
prefect.  There  was  not  a  single  habitable  room — dirt 
and  rubbish,  a  foot  high,  covered  the  floors.  Chairs 
and  tables,  beds  and  bedding,  and  the  whole  apparatus 
of  the  kitchen,  had  to  be  replaced  ;  while  the  want  of 
money  and  the  heart-breaking  spectacle  of  numbers  orf 
hungry  and  sorrow-stricken  exiles  flocking  into  the 
city,  made  the  strictest  economy  a  duty  no  less  than  a 
necessity. 

It  was  a  heavy  recommencement  for  Caroline  ;  but 
before  winter  all  was  once  more  in  order,  though  not 
without  considerable  labor  and  anxiety.  To  place  the 
business,  which  had  been  entirely  broken  up,  on  its 
former  footing  was  an  undertaking  of  far  greater  dif- 
ficulty. A  numerous  family  had  to  be  maintained,  and 
many  liabilities  to  be  met. 

Along  with  a  number  of  adventurers,  sharpers,  and 
revolutionists,  times  of  great  political  excitement 
always  call  forth  the  most  talented  and  energetic 
members  of  a  State,  turning  their  attention  away  from 
their  usual  avocations,  and  drawing  them  into  the  cur- 
rent of  events  in  which  unusual  powers  are  required 
to  meet  unusual  circumstances.  When  the  waters 
have  returned  to  their  accustomed  channel,  these  men, 
whose  minds  had  been  kept  in  a  state  of  continual 
activity  and  excitement,  and  who  had  been  intimately 
associated  with  all  the  great  events  of  the  period, 
have  to  return  to  the  quiet,  uniform,  and  narrow  circle 


THE   RETURN — SUMMER   OF    1814.  219 

of  their  own  peculiar  vocations.  Such  a  step  has  been 
difficult  even  to  men  of  strong  natures,  and  many  who 
were  deemed  worthy  of  all  praise  in  critical  times,  be- 
come, when  order  is  restored,  a  species  of  intellectual 
vagabonds,  who,  at  home  in  no  calling,  occupy  them- 
selves first  with  one  thing,  then  with  another,  unsettled 
in  their  minds,  discontented  with  themselves  and  with 
the  world,  and  a  source  of  grief  to  others. 

Perthes  felt  that  if  he  would  escape  this  danger,  the 
time  was  now  come  when  he  must  devote  all  his  talents 
and  ail  his  energies,  to  the  business  of  liis  calling,  and 
he  was  able  both  to  form  the  resolution  to  do  so  and  to 
carry  it  out.  In  spite  of  seasons  of  trial  and  difficulty, 
it  was  not  without  a  certain  pleasure  that  he  had  taken 
part  in  the  weighty  and  complicated  political  events 
of  the  period  ;  but,  fortunately,  he  had  sense  to  see  the 
limited  orbit  in  which  he  was  henceforward  to  move, 
and  courage  to  keep  within  it.  The  actual  state  of 
his  business  was  such  as  to  render  a  return  to  its  daily 
cares  and  labors  doubly  difficult :  *'  I  dislike  this  trans- 
ition," he  wrote  to  Villers,  "  from  the  poetry  of  my 
previous  existence,  to  the  prose  of  common  life,  and 
the  more  so,  because  I  see  labors  and  anxieties  of  all 
kinds  before  me." 

On  the  day  following  the  reoccupation  by  the  French, 
in  the  previous  year,  Davoust  had  sealed  up  Perthes^s 
warehouse,  and  had  given  notice  that  all  debts  due  to 
the  firm  were  to  be  paid  to  the  French  authorities. 
He  then  issued  an  order  that  all  the  serviceable  books 
were  to  be  seized  and  divided  between  the  libraries, 
schools,  and  the  officials,  and  the  rest  sold  by  auction. 
A  great  part  of  the  valuable  stock  of  maps  was  dis- 
tributed, some  to  the  topographical  bureaux,  some  to 


220  '  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

the  different  general?,  while  many  valuable  works  fell 
into  the  hands  of  individual  officers  :  the  auction  was, 
however,  delayed.  It  was  impossible  for  Perthes  to 
pay  any  attention  to  the  concerns  of  the  business 
during  his  exile,  but  Besser,  though  also  an  exile,  never 
lost  sight  of  it.  Ever  watchful,  and  on  the  alert  to 
take  advantage  of  any  favorable  turn  to  save  what 
might  yet  be  saved,  he  was  ably  seconded  by  the  dex- 
terity and  zeal  of  a  faithful  servant  named  D'Haspe. 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  separate  the  books 
in  the  large  commission  warehouse,  which  were  the 
property  of  other  booksellers,  from  the  rest :  it  was 
accordingly  committed  to  the  safe  keeping  of  the  firm 
of  Hoffmann  and  Campe. 

D'Haspe  then  paid  all  tradesmen  who  had  claims  on 
Perthes,  not  with  ready  money,  but  with  small  bills  to 
such  persons  who  were  in  debt  to  the  firm,  from  whom, 
owing  to  the  dissolution  of  all  order,  he  would  him- 
self have  found  it  difficult  at  that  time  to  obtain  pay- 
ment. Finally,  an  attempt  was  made,  and  not  abso- 
lutely without  success,  to  carry  on  the  business  through 
the  firm  of  Hammerich  in  Altona,  and  that  of  Michel- 
sen  in  Lubeck,  and  either  personally,  or  by  means  of 
friends  and  connexions,  to  solicit  debtors  in  the  neigh- 
boring districts  to  pay  what  they  owed  into  the  hands 
of  Besser,  in  spite  of  the  prohibitions  of  the  French 
commander-in-chief. 

But  it  was  not  so  easy  to  stop  the  threatened  disper- 
sion and  sale  of  the  books  in  Perthes'  own  warehouse. 
In  the  hope  of  accomplishing  this,  however,  the  credi- 
tors were  secretly  invited  to  come  forward  and  state 
that  before  any  division  of  the  property  could  take 
place,  they  must  have  satisfaction  for  their  claims.   As 


THE  RETURN — SUMMER   OF    1814.  221 

they  could  take  up  quite  a  legal  position,  Davoust, 
after  making  careful  personal  inquiries,  yielded,  and 
ordered  that  the  creditors  should  be  paid  first  out  of 
the  proceeds.  Thus  one  point  was  gained.  But  before 
the  sale  could  take  place,  it  was  necessary  that  a  cata- 
logue should  be  prepared  ;  and  this,  Besser,  in  the  ex- 
pectation of  a  speedy  deliverance  from  the  French, 
proceeded  with  as  slowly  as  possible.  He  gained  his 
object,  tliough  Davoust  more  than  once  threatened  to 
have  the  books  sold  by  weight,  if  the  catalogue  were 
not  forthcoming.  The  warehouse  being  required  as  a 
residence  for  the  French  officials,  the  30,000  volumes 
which  it  contained  Avere  removed  in  wagons  to  another 
place,  and  thrown  together  without  any  regard  to  order- 
The  catalogue  was  nevertheless  begun,  but  before  it  was 
ready,  the  Allies  had  crossed  the  Rhine,  and,  under  this 
change  of  circumstances  Davoust  carefully  avoided 
any  step  that  might  have  led  to  claims  being  made  on 
what  he  considered  as  his  private  property.  The  books 
accordingly  still  remained  unsold  and  in  safe  keeping. 
Sucli  was  the  state  of  things  when  the  two  friends, 
Besser  and  Perthes,  met  a  Kiel  towards  the  end  of 
February,  1814,  and  subsequently  at  Blankenese,  to 
deliberate  as  to  their  further  proceedings.  Although 
the  whole  of  the  customers  were  dispersed,  both  part- 
ners were  of  opinion,  that  under  the  circumstances,  it 
was  not  only  possible  to  resume  the  business  without 
involving  any  culpable  risk,  but  that  it  was  a  duty  to 
do  so,  as  being  the  only  means  of  securing  the  creditors 
from  loss.  With  this  view,  Perthes  issued  a  circular 
in  1814  : — "  No  one  could  expect  that  I  sliould  at  once 
fulfil  all  my  engagements,  and  I  am  aware  that  many 
of  my  correspondents  expect  a  proposal  for  an  accom- 


222  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

raodation.  But  now  that  the  position  of  our  father- 
land has  enabled  me  to  reestablish  myself,  I  trust  to 
God  to  end  as  I  began,  and  to  pay  every  man  his  own. 
I  have,  indeed,  no  longer  the  youthful  energy  with 
which  I  set  out  eighteen  years  ago,  and  I  have  a  nu- 
merous family  to  support ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  T 
have  experience,  and  am  thus  saved  paying  the  appren- 
tice-fee of  ignorance.  I  have  the  confidence  of  my 
fellow-citizens,  and  also  a  large  circle  of  friends  and 
patrons,  and  an  extensive  connexion  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. I  resume  my  business  confidently  in  reliance 
on  the  friendship  of  my  correspondents,  and  with  the 
resolution  to  pay  all  my  debts,  and  to  let  none  suffer 
loss  through  me.  The  how  and  the  when  of  payment 
I  must  ask  you  to  leave  to  myself,  but  within  three  years 
all  liabilities  shall  be  discharged."  In  this  circular 
Perthes  announced  that  the  name  of  Besser,  who  had 
long  been  actually  in  partnership,  would  "  now  appear 
in  the  firm,  and  would  thus  afford  to  the  commercial 
world  a  further  guarantee  for  the  security  of  the 
house." 

It  was  not  their  intention  immediately  to  resume 
their  business  in  all  its  former  extent,  but  to  proceed 
with  prudence  and  caution.  There  was  little  to  be  ex- 
pected from  Hamburgh  or  the  immediate  neighborhood 
under  existing  circumstances,  and  not  much  from  Ger- 
many in  general,  since  the  present  distress  was  likely 
to  tell  on  the  literary  market  for  many  years  to  come. 
The  attention  of  the  partners  was  thus  turned  to 
England,  where  the  results  of  the  war  of  Indepen- 
dence had  aw^akened  a  degree  of  sympathy  with  the 
Continent,  such  as  had  not  been  known  for  centuries. 
The  time  appeared  especially  favorable  for  arousing  a 


THE   RETURN — SUMMER   OF"  1814.  223 

taste  for  the  wider  diffusion  of  German  literature  in 
England,  and  more  particularly  for  directing  the  at- 
tention of  the  many  great  and  wealthy  collectors  to 
German  classics  of  all  kinds,  and  to  works  on  philology. 
The  very  defective  state  of  the  English  book-trade  also 
induced  them  to  hope  that  the  German  booksellers 
might  be  constituted  the  medium  of  the  English  for- 
eign literary  traffic.  Besser  had  passed  some  time  in 
England,  earlier  in  life,  and  had  perfect  command  of 
the  language,  and  introductions  to  the  most  influential 
persons  were  at  his  disposal.  It  was  therefore  deter- 
mined that  he  should  go  to  England  and  endeavor  as 
much  as  possible  to  extend  the  previous  connexion  in 
country.  The  preparations  were  soon  made,  and  on 
the  4th  of  May  Besser  embarked  at  Ritzebilttel. 

In  the  meantime  Perthes  was  left  to  make  the  neces- 
sary arrangements  for  reopening  the  shop  as  soon  as 
possible  after  the  retreat  of  the  French.  "  Yesterday," 
wrote  Perthes  to  Yillers,  "  I  was  invited  by  the  Pre- 
fect to  enter  the  city,  in  consequence  of  the  Marshal's 
resolution  to  release  my  premises  from  the  embargo 
he  had  placed  upon  them  ;  and  I  was  also  informed, 
that  700  francs  had  to  be  paid  by  me  for  a  catalogue 
which  they  had  prepared.  You  see,  that  under  the  white 
flag  they  are  still  the  same  people.  Thus,  for  having 
liung  me  on  the  gallows  in  effigy,  for  having  hunted 
me  out  of  house  and  home,  for  having  destroyed  my 
trade,  stolen  the  half  of  my  books,  and  burned  my 
furniture,  the  scoundrels  ask  700  francs  !" 

Perthes  having  at  once  and  decidedly  declared  that, 
as  it  was  not  at  his  request  that  the  authorities  had 
given  themselves  the  trouble  of  taking  charge  of  his 
books,  or  preparing  the  inventory,  he  was  not  disposed 


224  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

to  reimburse  them  for  their  pains,  the  warehouse  was, 
on  the  19th  of  May,  unconditionally  surrendered  to 
Runge,  as  his  representative. 

On  the  30th  Perthes  himself  returned  to  the  city, 
and  thus  wrote  to  Besser  : — "  I  shake  hands  with  you 
from  our  old  house.  I  dare  not  express  in  words  the 
emotions  of  my  heart.  It  is,  indeed,  like  a  resurrec- 
tion from  the  dead." 

The  labors  involved  in  the  reopening  of  the  shop 
were  begun  and  carried  on  with  all  diligence.  "  You 
will  believe,  but  you  can  form  no  idea  of  the  labor  of 
finding  one's  way  through  all  this  confusion,  and  of 
putting  everything  in  order ;  if  only  there  were  some 
to  help  me! — but  that  is  impossible.  I  thank  God 
that  I  am  well  and  in  good  spirits,  and  I  am  grateful 
both  to  Him  and  to  men.  The  worst  of  all  is  the  pay- 
ments which  require  to  be  made  immediately  :  few  pay 
us,  while  every  day  bills,  little  and  great,  from  Peter 
and  Paul,  from  bookbinders,  trades-people,  and  others, 
are  coming  in  :  the  poor  creatures  are  in  the  greatest 
distress,  and  petition  us  to  pay  them.  This  is  very 
sad.  Bills  and  notes,  too,  pour  in  upon  us  from  abroad. 
I  will  fight  my  way  through,  but  it  will  only  be  by  the 
sweat  of  my  brow." 

Amid  all  his  labors,  cares,  and  anxieties,  Perthes 
never  for  a  moment  lost  hope  or  courage,  and  many  a 
favorable  turn  helped  him  through  difiiculties  when 
things  were  at  the  worst.  "  I  am  inexpressibly  afi'ect- 
ed,"  he  writes  again  to  Besser,  "  by  the  confidence, 
the  affection,  and  kindness  which  our  fellow-citizens 
manifest  towards  us  in  so  many  ways.  Our  credit  is 
not  only  maintained,  it  stands  firmer  tlian  ever.  The 
booksellers'  answers  to  our  circular  are  now  come  in. 


THE   RETURN — SUMMER   OF    1814.  225 

With  a  single  exception  they  are  all  satisfied  with  our 
proposals,  and  express  the  most  entire  confidence.  I 
can  assure  you  that  our  business  will  soon  be  once 
more  in  full  operation.'' 

Towards  the  end  of  June  Perthes  himself  opened 
the  shop,  and  within  a  few  days  he  could  write  : — 
God's  blessing  is  upon  us,  and  all  promises  well ;  but  I 
cannot  get  through  the  work  alone,  and  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  you  should  return.  One  thing  presses 
hard  on  the  heels  of  another,  while  things  are  not  yet 
in  order.  All  are  desirous  to  prove  their  friendship, 
and  orders  pour  in  from  every  side.  I  am  overpowered, 
and  long  for  your  return." 

Besser's  stay  in  England  was  to  have  been  longer, 
but  he  quickly  perceived  the  position  and  relations  of 
the  book-trade  there,  and  felt  that  his  absence  from 
Hamburgh  was  no  longer  necessary.  He  had  been 
deeply  impressed  by  the  spectacle  which  London  pre- 
sented in  the  first  moments  of  excitement,  immediately 
after  the  fall  of  Napoleon.  "  Here  I  am,"  he  says  in 
his  first  letter,  "  in  this  great  city,  and  in  this  wonder- 
fully beautiful  country,  at  a  time  which  has  not  its 
parallel  in  history.  The  sovereigns  are  expected 
shortly  ;  but  General  '  Blutscher'  is  more  thought  of 
than  all  the  rest.  There  is  something  absolutely  over- 
powering in  this  enormous  mass  of  animated  and  me- 
chanical life  ;  but  with  the  people,  if  you  only  under- 
stand their  manner  and  their  languarge,  you  are  soon 
quite  at  home,  spite  of  their  want  of  amenity." 

It  was  Besser's  object  to  form  acquaintance  with 

men  of  all  kinds  and  of  all  ranks,  and  his  numerous 

introductions  gave  him  access  to  the  most  distinguished 

circles.     Germans,  English  gentlemen  of  fortune,  lead- 

10^ 


226  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

ing  men  in  the  "  city,"  he  freely  mixed  with.  Now  he 
had  intercourse  with  the  keen  business  man  ;  then  with 
the  amiable  and  the  good  :  at  another  time  with 
Methodists  and  Quakers  ;  and  again,  with  people  who 
knew  nothing  of  life  but  its  worst  side.  "  It  is  a  per- 
ilous thing,"  he  exclaimed,  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  for  a 
poor  frail  mortal  to  seek  to  take  the  measure  of  the 
knowledge  of  so  many  other  children  of  men  ;  wheth- 
er we  will  or  not,  we  must  place  ourselves  above 
those  whom  we  presume  to  judge.  I  am  heartily  tired 
of  this  sort  of  life,  and  often,  in  the  course  of  the 
evening,  find  myself  longing  for  my  little  lodging,  where 
at  least  in  thought  I  can  be  with  you."  He  turned  for 
rest  and  refreshment  frequently  to  the  great  Museum, 
and  the  private  collections  of  London.  "  I  am  de- 
lighted to  have  Hans  Lappenburg  to  enjoy  all  these 
grand  things  with  me,"  he  writes.  "There  is  some- 
thing glorious  about  youth  ;  and  with  a  young  man  we 
ourselves  feel  young  again."  The  interest  evinced  by 
so  many  different  men  for  German  literature,  seemed 
to  justify  the  most  sanguine  hopes,  and  Besser  formed 
his  plans  accordingly.  "  Through  Schwabe,  who  is 
a  truly  admirable  man  and  highly  respected,  and 
through  some  other  clergyman  and  Count  Miinster,  as 
soon  as  he  comes,  T  mean  to  suggest  the  introduction 
of  German  into  the  schools.  Why  not  as  well  as 
French  ?  Don't  laugh,  this  is  what  I  call  going  to  the 
root  of  the  matter — and  it  will  succeed.  We  should 
also  have  a  German  periodical  here,  on  the  plan  of 
the  English  miscellanies ;  I  do  not  mean  that  we  should 
undertake  it,  but  we  might  give  encouragement  to  such 
a  thing  in  connexion  with  a  literary  advertiser.  I 
have  the  right  men  in  my  eye,  both  authors  and  pub- 


THE    RETUHX — SUMMKll    OF    1814.  227 

lishers.  In  close  connexion  with  this  periodical,  it 
would  be  well  to  endeavor  to  establish  a  subscription 
library.  It  would  bring  together  the  lovers  of  Ger- 
man literature,  and  increase  their  numbers.  At  pres- 
ent there  is  scarcely  a  single  German  w^ork  to  be 
found  among  the  twenty  great  booksellers  at  Oxford. 
My  proposals  are  warmly  seconded  by  friends  and  ac- 
quaintances. Only  take  courage,  I  may  assuredly  say 
that  my  coming  to  London  will  have  important  re- 
sults." 

"  Alas  !  I  am  candidly  told,'^  he  wrote,  "  not  only  by 
Germans,  but  by  Englishmen  who  are  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  German  literature,  that  the  English  as 
.a  people  are  incapable  of  apprehending  it.  Goethe 
and  Herder  they  do  not  understand,  and  Klopstock 
they  totally  misunderstand.  I  myself  now  see  more  and 
more  clearly  that  it  is  impossible  that  the  genuine 
English  should  have  any  taste  for  our  works.  I  do 
not  speak  of  the  men  of  '  the  city,'  who  are  certainly 
by  no  means  the  patrons  of  literature,  but  as  Rob- 
inson calls  them,  mere  quill-drivers ;  neither  do  I  re- 
fer to  my  Methodist  friends,  to  whom  Goethe  is  a 
*  wicked  fellow  ;'  but  the  insular  cliaracter  of  the  peo- 
ple generally,  is  intellectually  exclusive,  it  cannot  get 
out  of  itself,  and  it  cannot  take  in  anytliing  foreign. 
Such  men  as  Robinson  are  of  rare  occurrence  in  I^ng- 
land.  A  better  medium  than  tliis  remarkable  and 
most  attractive  man,  it  would  be  impossible  for  Ger- 
many to  find.  I  unconsciously  place  him  iii  my  mind 
by  the  side  of  Yillers,  and  then  the  different  influence 
which  a  thorough  German  education  has  had  on  the 
Frenchman  and  on  the  Englishman,  is  very  strik- 
ing." 


228  CAUOLIXE    PERTHES. 

After  an  interval  of  a  few  weeks,  Besser  again  writes 
to  Perthes  :  "  I  have  at  last  become  thoroughly  aware 
that  to  promise,  to  will,  and  to  be  able,  are  three  very 
different  things  ;  and  while  we  may  with  certain- 
ty reckon  on  the  two  first,  in  the  case  of  many  men, 
we  must  not  on  that  account  venture  to  rely  upon  the 
third.  I  am  distressed  at  the  thought  of  having  raised 
false  hopes  as  to  the  results  of  my  present  visit,  never- 
theless we  have  gained  much  by  it.  We  know  with 
certainty  what  we  should  not  undertake  ;  and  if  we 
cannot  enter  into  any  great  enterprises  in  England, 
we  may  yet  reap  certain  positive  advantages.  We 
must  keep  our  eye  upon  works  of  science,  especially 
of  natural  history  and  medicine,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  German  editions  of  the  Classics  appear  to  be 
less  used  than  formerly.  Under  these  circumstances, 
a  longer  stay  in  London  is  unnecessary,  and  I  hope  to 
be  in  Hamburgh  by  the  beginning  of  August.'^ 

"  Your  lamentations  do  not  alarm  me,"  answered 
Perthes  ;  "  only  be  contented  ;  the  blessing  will  not 
fail  us,  even  in  England.  We  are  in  good  repute 
there,  and  the  tranquillity  which  is  by  degrees  winning 
its  way  all  over  Europe,  will  open  to  us  fresh  channels 
even  on  that  side  of  the  water." 

On  Besser's  return  from  London  in  August,  1814, 
the  two  friends  labored  together  in  right  good  earnest, 
and  friends  far  and  near  assisted  them  gladly  in  their 
constantly  recurring  pecuniary  embarrassments.  By 
Easter,  1815,  Perthes  and  Besser  were  able  to  show 
that  they  had  already  discharged  all  their  obligations 
long  before  the  lapse  of  the  stipulated  time,  and  from 
that  period  the  house  took  the  important  position 
which  it  has  ever  since  maintained. 


THE   RETURN — SUMMER   OF    1814.  229 

Perthes,  however,  did  not  allow  the  demands  of  busi- 
ness so  entirely  to  engross  his  attention  as  to  divert 
him  entirely  from  the  attempts  which  were  being  made 
to  reestablish  the  old  civic  constitution.  By  speech 
and  writing  he  did  as  much  as  his  position  and  the 
circumstances  of  the  time  permitted. 


XXI. 


/I  HILE  individuals  were  laboring  like  Per- 
^  thes,  each  in  his  own  place,  to  gather  up  the 
links  of  social  life  in  all  parts  of  Germany, 
the  sovereigns  and  princes,  the  ministers 
and  diplomatists  of  Europe  were  assembling 
in  Vienna,  to  settle  afresh  the  great  Euro- 
pean relations,  and  especially  to  reunite  the 
German  states,  which  since  the  dissolution  of  the  em- 
pire had  been  very  mucli  isolated. 

From  his  home  at  Hamburgh,  Perthes  had  followed 
the  course  of  events  with  the  most  lively  interest.  He 
had  friends  and  acquaintances  both  among  those  who 
actually  took  part  in  the  business  of  the  Congress, 
and  among  those  who  were  well  informed  as  to  their 
proceedings,  and  accordingly  his  correspondence  dur- 
ing this  period,  and  during  the  war  in  France,  in- 
cludes many  particulars  of  interest. 

Among  the  acquaintances  of  Perthes  who  attended 
the  Congress,  there  were  some  who  regarded  with  in- 
dignation the  attitude  of  Austria,  and  hotly  attacked 
Metternich.  "  Metternich,"  writes  one  of  these,  "  can 
not  leave  off  the  old  tricks  of  his  wicked  policy  ;  and 
in  order  to  secure  some  advantages  for  Austria,  he  fa- 
vors the  desire  for  an  Imperial  Commonwealth  that  is 
manifesting  itself  on  the  Rhine  and  in  Swabia,  the 

(230) 


MOMENTOUS   EVENTS.  231 

grasping  ambition  of  the  Minister  of  sovereignty- 
seeking  Bavaria,  and,  in  the  smaller  States,  the  wish 
of  the  Princes  to  establish  a  sort  of  patriarchal  em- 
pire, while,  at  the  same  time,  he  has  relations  with 
Talleyrand,  whicli  might  convulse  not  only  Germany 
but  Europe." 

Amid  all  the  fluctuating  events  of  the  years  1814-15, 
Perthes  adhered  firmly  to  tlie  conviction  that  the  na- 
tionality of  the  Germans  was  the  gift  of  God,  and  was 
independent  alike  of  the  good-will  or  ill-will  of  those 
in  power  ;  that  it  was  great  and  good,  and  a  mighty 
power  on  which  we  might  and  ought  to  rely,  in  spite 
of  all  the  corrupt  and  selfish  counter-workings  of  in- 
dividual princes  or  merchants,  ministers  or  artisans, 
soldiers  or  lawyers.  He  had  already  confidently 
stated  his  belief  that  Germany  would  never  rest  till  it 
had  attained  the  full  recognition  of  its  nationality  ; 
and  now,  notwithstanding  his  esteem  for  the  Prussian 
people,  he  rejected  most  unequivocally  every  proposal 
that  pointed  to  a  merely  Prussian  development  of  Ger- 
many or  of  any  portion  of  it. 

In  the  midst  of  the  universal  excitement,  Perthes  on 
the  8th  of  April  set  out  for  Leipzig  to  attend  the  Fair 
there,  after  an  interval  of  two  years.  He  found  every- 
where the  greatest  consternation  prevailing  on  account 
of  the  future  fate  of  Saxony  then  just  determined.  But 
the  momentous  aspect  which  European  aff'airs  now  be- 
gan to  assume,  soon  diverted  the  general  attention  from 
this  unhappy  country. 

Soon  after  the  return  of  Perthes  from  Leipzig,  the 
opposing  armies  met,  and  the  decisive  day  drew  near. 
Minds  long  since  exhausted  by  the  perplexities  of  poli- 
tics, were  now  inspired  with  military  ardor. 


232  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Two  days  before  the  battle  of  Belle- Alliance,  Per- 
thes wrote  as  follows  to  Fouqu^,  who,  after  a  short 
stay  at  Hamburgh,  liad  gone  to  visit  tlic  Counts  Stol- 
berg  and  Reventlow :  "  You  have  by  tliis  time  become 
acquainted  with  the  honored  Count  Stolberg  and  his 
noble  consort,  and  with  the  pious,  humble  family  at 
Altenhof.  How  gladly  would  I  spend  a  day  with  you 
there !  We  would,  together,  take  a  cheerful  survey  of 
history,  and  see  how  a  spirited,  self-confident,  and  vigo- 
rous youth — brought  to  God  and  to  humility  by  grap- 
pling and  struggling  with  dangers  and  difficulties — is 
about  to  recover  for  Germany  its  ancient  free  consti- 
tution, developed  and  fortified  by  the  experience  of 
centuries.  I  would  fain  never  cease  preaching  to  that 
perpetual  youth,  courage,  progress,  and  loving  hope. 
Time  broods  and  ferments  long  before  he  takes  a  step, 
but  then  it  is  a  giant's  step,  which  treads  many  wrig- 
gling, creeping  worms  into  the  dust ;  this  must  not  dis- 
turb our  faith  and  trust.  We  must  step  forward,  diffi- 
cult as  it  may  seem,  not  in  proud  self-confidence,  but 
beholding  with  awe  how  God  has  forewarned  and  pre- 
pared the  world  for  the  step.  It  is  necessary,  how- 
ever, to  fight  manfully  with  those  who,  shutting  their 
eyes  to  the  truth,  would  fain  avert  the  course  of  events, 
either  for  the  purpose  of  ruling  with  despotic  sway,  or 
of  reposing  in  selfish  ease  and  enjoyment  on  the  last 
remaining  pillow  of  a  bygone  age." 

Sooner  than  any  one  could  have  ventured  to  expect, 
the  hopes  of  Germany  were  realized  by  the  victory  of 
Waterloo.  Caroline  had  been  residing  for  a  few  weeks 
at  Wandsbeck,  and  when  the  first  uncertain  rumors  of 
a  great  and  decisive  battle  reached  her  there,  she  wrote 
at  once,  in  the  greatest  excitement,  to   Hamburgh. 


MOMENTOUS   EVENTS.  233 

"Is  is  true,  dear  Perthes?  Oh,  why  are  you  not  here, 
or  I  with  you  ?  Write  to  me  immediately  if  it  be  true. 
I  cannot  believe  it,  and  stand  listening  for  voices  in 
the  air." 

Caroline  had  posted  her  children  on  the  path  lead- 
ing from  Hamburgh,  in  order  to  have  the  first  news  of 
the  approach  of  the  expected  messenger.  At  length  a 
horseman  was  seen  in  the  distance  advancing  at  full 
gallop,  and  waving  a  white  flag.  It  was  a  friend 
whom  Perthes  had  despatched  with  the  Gazette  of  the 
victory,  and  these  words, — "  Behold  the  wonderful 
works  of  God  ;  give  thanks  and  praise  to  Him." 

"  That  is  indeed  a  victory,'^  replied  Caroline :  "may 
God  help  us  still  further,  and  may  it  be  without  fight- 
ing and  conquering,  if  this  is  not  asking  too  much. 
You  write  that  Hanbury  is  shot.  Alas !  for  the  poor 
mother  at  Flottbeck.  But  she  must  bear  up  ;  she  sees 
what  he  has  died  for." 

Events  now  succeeded  each  other  with  wonderful 
rapidity.  ''  The  first  great  act  of  the  European  drama 
is  ended,"  wrote  Perthes  on  the  20th  of  June.  "  Na- 
poleon is  dethroned.  You  will  read  the  rest  in  the 
Supplement  to  the  Gazette  ;  the  French,  if  they  give 
up  their  idol,  set  the  crown  on  their  own  degradation. 
I  expect  it,  and,  on  this  account,  I  shall  illuminate,  and 
not  because  of  the  fall  of  the  monster,  who  has  long 
ago  appeared  to  me  as  fallen."  And  again,  a  few  days 
later, — "  In  France  all  is  confusion,  and  this  kingdom 
of  hell  is  going  to  pieces.  What  a  judgment  from 
God!" 

On  tlie  26th  of  June,  he  again  writes  to  Caroline, — 
"  Yesterday  came  the  report  of  the  taking  of  Napo- 
leon, but  it  is  not  yet  confirmed.     Believe  me,  the  per- 


234  CAROLINE    PKRTHES. 

son  of  this  monster  is  not  now  of  the  importance  that 
you  and  half  the  world  imagine.  Look  at  the  fate  of 
the  French  I  their  present  downfall,  their  terrible  pros- 
pects !  The  dispersion  of  the  Jews  is  nothing  in  com- 
parison." 

The  events  which  had  again  convulsed  Europe  had, 
indeed,  driven  the  citizen  from  the  seclusion  of  private 
life,  and  forced  him  into  the  wide  circle  of  political 
sympathies  and  affairs.  But  the  individual  and  his 
purely  human  lot  retains  his  significance  in  a  period  of 
political  excitement,  as  well  as  in  a  season  of  political 
repose.  While  States  are  struggling  with  each  other, 
and  conquering  or  falling,  cold  and  hunger,  bodily 
and  spiritual  privation,  are  still  inflicting  their  suffer- 
ings on  the  individual.  While  great  battles  are  being 
fought,  and  great  congresses  are  being  assembled,  the 
individual  still  requires  our  sympathy  with  his  present 
and  his  eternal  wants  ;  for  even  the  poor  perishing 
man  occupies  a  far  higher  place  than  the  State  :  he  is 
connected  with  eternity,  the  State  has  to  do  wdth  affairs 
of  earth  alone.  It  would  have  been  no  sign  of  politi- 
cal greatness,  but  a  symptom  of  moral  decay,  if  man, 
as  an  individual,  had  been  forgotten  in  tlie  mighty  ris- 
ing of  the  War  of  Independence.  In  fact,  the  distress 
had  become  everywhere  so  great,  during  the  eighteen 
months  between  the  first  and  the  second  peace  of  Paris, 
and  had  reached  such  a  height,  especially  in  Hamburgh^ 
that  none  but  the  hardest  hearts  could  have  been  un- 
moved by  it,  even  amidst  all  the  excitement  of  political 
events. 

For  many  months  the  numerous  workmen  of  all 
kinds  that,  in  Hamburgh,  earned  the  daily  bread  of 
wife  and  children  by  daily  labor,  had,  perforce,  kept 


MOMENTOUS   EVENTS.  235 

holiday  :  the  whole  trade  and  commerce  of  that  world's 
emporium  had  given  place  to  a  stillness  like  that  of 
death.  From  the  moment  that  labor  ceased  on  the 
quays  and  in  the  warehouses,  hunger  began  to  tell 
upon  strong  and  active  men.  Thousands  had  lost 
home  and  all,  when  Davoust  had  set  fire  to  the  sub- 
urbs ;  and  though  death  had  made  provision  for  a  large 
number  of  the  120,000  of  grey-headed  and  helpless  men, 
women,  and  children,  whom  Davoust  had  driven  out 
of  the  city  in  the  cold  of  a  December  night,*  still 
thousands  survived  to  return,  bringing  sickness  and 
sorrow  with  them,  and  no  property  of  any  kind,  save 
what  they  carried  on  their  persons.  To  provide  food 
and  lodging,  and  a  bed  of  straw  for  each,  was  the  least 
that  could  be  done.  Artisans,  too,  required  tools  to 
enable  them  to  resume  their  work  ;  while  the  many 
petty  dealers  who  ministered  to  the  daily  wants  of  the 
great  city  required  some  capital,  however  small,  to 
meet  their  first  outlay  ;  in  every  corner  wants  were 
springing  up  that  craved  immediate  attention. 

The  public  charities  were  turned  to  the  best  account, 
and  were  admirably  worked :  148,000  marks  were 
expended  annually  in  alms,  clothing,  and  lodging  ;  but 
the  distress  that  had  been  occasioned  by  extraordinary 
circumstances  called  for  extraordinary  exertions.  Col- 
lections were  made  among  the  wealthy  burghers,  and 
sums,  greater  or  smaller,  came  in  from  tlie  different 
European  cities.  Distant  Malta  sent  a  large  sum,  and 
in  London  Yon  Hess  labored  with  indefatigable  zeal 
to  procure  fresh  contributions  for  his  unhappy  coun- 
trymen.    A  number  of  the  most  experienced  citizens 

<*  In  the  meadow  behind  Ottensen  1138  of  these  lie  buried. 


236  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

distributed  the  supplies  thus  sent.  Perthes,  with  a  few 
others,  undertook  the  distribution  of  the  English  con- 
tributions, and  tlie  minute  accounts,  still  preserved, 
attest  the  care  and  conscientiousness  witli  which  he 
discharged  this  duty. 

As  the  dispenser  of  these  contributions,  Perthes  had 
come  in  contact  with  individuals  who  were  suffering 
the  extremity  of  privation,  and  in  every  instance  he 
had  found  that  they  were  suffering  from  other  than  mere 
bodily  Avants.  Thus  in  September,  1S14,  he  wrote,  "I 
have  gathered  much  valuable  experience  among  the 
lower  classes,  and,  thank  God,  I  have  often  found  that 
suffering  and  sorrow  have  been  the  means  of  rousing 
many  from  their  former  spiritual  death,  and  of  awak- 
ening in  many  hearts  a  sense  of  divine  and  eternal 
things.  Hundreds  of  families  would  fain  seek  help 
and  comfort  in  God,  but  they  know  not  the  way  that 
leads  to  Him,  and,  under  our  former  circumstances, 
could  not  know  it.  What  would  our  handful  of  clergy 
do  with  this  multitude  of  people?  The  Bible,  too,  is 
known  only  to  few  families  ;  I  have  found  it  wanting 
even  in  schools." 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  London  Bible  Society, 
founded  in  1804,  began  to  direct  its  efforts  towards 
Germany.  The  missionaries  Steinkopf  and  Patterson 
were  first  deputed  to  request  that  Rambach,  Perthes, 
and  Gilbert  van  der  Smisscn  would  form  an  association 
in  Hamburgh  and  Altona,  for  the  distribution  of  Bibles; 
in  the  event  of  their  doing  so,  a  contribution  of  several 
hundred  pounds  was  promised.  Pertlies  and  his 
friends  were  well  aware,  that  owing  to  the  tendency 
of  the  times,  such  an  undertaking  would  expose  them 
to  the  reproach  of  pietism  or  mysticism,  or  some  such 


MOMENTOUS   EVENTS.  237 

term  of  reprobation,  and  in  order  to  avoid,  as  far  as 
possible  the  suspicion  of  anything  clandestine  or  sec- 
tarian, Pethes  had  recourse  to  the  men  who  then  held 
the  first  ecclesiastical  and  political  offices  in  Hamburgh, 
and  requested  their  personal  cooperation. 

On  the  6th  and  13th  of  October,  1814,  the  prelimi- 
nary meetings  were  held  at  Perthes'  house  ;  and  on  the 
19th  the  Hamburgh- Altona  Bible  Society  was  founded. 
When  its  twenty-fifth  anniversary  was  celebrated  in 
1839,  the  important  services  which  Perthes  had  ren- 
dered to  the  Society  in  its  infancy  were  gratefully 
commemorated. 

Perthes  regarded  the  Bible  Society  as  but  one  of 
many  means  for  bringing  about  a  rcMval  of  religion, 
and  he  gladly  recognized  the  labors  of  those  who,  in  a 
variety  of  different  ways,  were  seeking  to  influence  the 
people.  But  to  make  the  theatre,  although  frequented 
by  great  numbers  of  persons  who  were  inaccessible  to 
any  other  influence,  a  means  of  rousing  religious  feel- 
ings, seemed  to  him  more  than  doubtful.  "  Be  tem- 
perate," he  wrote  to  Fouque,  "  and  don't  seek  to  bring 
your  religious  feelings,  or  rather  your  convictions 
regarding  our  holy  religion,  on  the  stage.  Life  and 
nature,  and  therefore  destiny,  belong  to  the  theatre, 
but  not  the  consolations  of  religion.  These  man  must 
seek  in  his  chamber  or  in  the  church,  and  there  Grod 
will  reveal  himself  to  him." 

Popular  works  by  which  the  dormant  Christian  con- 
sciousness might  be  revived,  Perthes  viewed  on  the 
other  hand  as  an  absolute  necessity.  Thus  he  wrote 
to  Fouque,  "  We  greatly  need  a  national -historical 
religious  catechism  for  our  primary  schools,  through 
which  our  youth  may  be  taught  that  God  made  man, 


238  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

that  the  human  race  fell  by  sin,  of  the  coming  of  the 
Eedeemer,  and  of  the  means  by  which  Christianity 
was  spread  ;  how  a  way  was  made  for  its  introduction 
by  the  migrations  of  the  Germanic  tribes,  how  we 
Germans,  thus  born  again,  advanced  in  the  new  world- 
career,  and  how  the  seed  of  better  times  was  and  is 
still  preserved  among  us.  I  do  not  understand  how 
to  put  it  together,  but  you  have  it  all  at  your  fingers^ 
ends.  It  must  be  short,  and  in  question  and  answer, 
or  else  in  simple  propositions.  The  man  who  should 
give  us  this  would  be  an  unspeakable  benefactor  in 
the  sight  of  God  and  man." 

It  was  upon  the  youth  of  our  land,  and  on  their  yet 
uncorrupted  susceptibility,  that  Perthes  built  his  hopes 
of  future  improvement  among  the  people,  and  as  a 
favorable  opportunity  of  advancing  their  interests  now 
presented  itself,  he  did  not  suffer  it  to  pass  unimproved. 
A  committee  of  twelve  was  appointed  to  make  an  ex- 
traordinary collection  for  the  education  of  the  poor  of 
the  city.  "  We  got  30,000  marks  at  once,"  he  says  to 
Fouque,  "  for  the  education  of  poor  children,  and  we 
hope  to  get  a  great  deal  more.  We  twelve  have  now 
gone  minutely  through  the  town,  and  what  numbers 
of  fine  children  we  have  found  !  The  blessing  of  God 
is  indeed  upon  our  people.  We  have  taken  seven  hun- 
dred of  the  destitute  children  of  the  city."  The  Ham- 
burgh schools  for  the  poor,  since  so  widely  extended, 
owed  much  to  this  collection. 

That  it  was  possible  to  form  well-organized  associ- 
ations to  minister  to  the  temporal  and  spiritual  wants 
of  our  perishing  people,  was  a  thought  that  lay  beyond 
the  horizon  of  1814  ;  but  Perthes  regarded  with  lively 
hope  the  female  associations  that  had  been  instituted 


MOMENTOUS   EVENTS.  239 

in  Germany  during  the  war,  for  the  purpose  of  nursing 
the  wounded,  and  taking  care  of  the  widows  and  or- 
phans of  the  slain.  "  Whether  two,  three,  or  four 
German  cities  shall  by  these  means  be  henceforward 
united,  no  one  can  tell,"  he  wrote ;  "  but  these  asso- 
ciations of  ladies  may  certainly  do  much  to  unite  all 
Germany  in  one  blessed  circle,  in  spite  of  all  intestine 
divisions  and  all  future  struggles  with  foreign  enemies. 
They  may  hold  on  their  way  undisturbed,  if  only  they 
steer  clear  of  all  interference  with  the  State,  and  care- 
fully avoid  mixing  themselves  up  with  any  of  the  ques- 
tions of  right  and  wrong,  which  will  have  to  be  deter- 
mined so  soon  as  peace  is  reestablished." 


XXII. 


HE  anxieties  and  privations  of  the  year  of 
exile  had  told  severely  on  Caroline's  health. 
Her  freshness  and  vivacity  of  mind,  however, 
never  forsook  her  ;  and  on  this  account  she 
felt  only  the  more  painfully  the  pressure  of 
the  bodily  disease  which  had  its  origin  in 
jsrreat  excitability  of  the  nervous  system,  and 
in  an  incipient  complaint  of  the  heart.  "  I  have  not 
yet  recovered  my  strength  and  energy,"  she  writes  to 
her  friend,  Madame  Petersen,  in  Sweden,  "  and  I  often 
find  my  household  duties  so  heavy,  that  I  almost  de- 
spair." 

But  although  occasionally  depressed,  Caroline  was 
neither  indifferent  nor  ungrateful  for  the  many  bless- 
ings she  enjoyed.  "The  old  song  is  every  morn- 
ing new,"  she  once  wrote,  ^'  that,  if  possible,  I  love 
Perthes  still  better  than  the  day  before.  How  inade- 
quate seems  all  the  gratitude  I  feel  for  having  been 
permitted  to  retain  him !  " 

Death  was  now  to  be  revealed  to  Caroline  in  its 
most  solemn  form  :  she  was  called  to  attend  her  father, 
as  he  approached  that  awful  moment  when  time  and 
eternity  meet  together.  Claudius  had  suffered  severely 
in  the  years  1813  and  1814.  At  the  age  of  sever 
(240) 


DEATH   OF    CLAUDIUS.  241 

three,  he  had  been  driven  from  the  house  and  home  to 
which  he  was  attached  by  the  happy  memories  of  half 
a  century,  to  seek  an  uncertain  asylum  and  a  precari- 
ous subsistence  in  Holstein,  wliere  he  was  often  ex- 
posed to  poverty.  "We  are  pretty  well  off  here,"  he 
wrote  on  one  occasion  to  Caroline  from  Lubeck  :  "we 
have  a  little  room,  with  a  bed  and  a  sofa  which  almost 
fill  it.  We  cook  groats  and  potatoes  for  ourselves, 
but  fuel  is  extravagantly  dear.  You  will  have  seen  in 
the  papers  that  Wandsbeck  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
Allies.  Fritz  is  there  taking  care  of  our  house,  and 
has  sold  the  cow  :  he  writes  me  that  the  cellar  is,  like 
the  universe  before  Creation,  waste  and  void." 

A  few  weeks  later  he  wrote, — "  We  are  now  living 
in  a  larger,  I  might  say  a  large  room,  but  it  is  very 
cold,  and  we  have  not  the  means  of  making  and  of  keep- 
ing it  warm." 

The  outward  difficulties  were  great,  but  it  was  not 
these  which  affected  Claudius  the  most  sensibly.  "  The 
still  vigorous  man  'of  seventy-three,  had  strength  to 
bear  all  his  personal  sufferings  and  tlie  dispersion  of 
his  children,"  says  Perthes  in  a  letter  of  that  period  ; 
"  but  his  sincere  and  patriotic  heart  was  broken  by  the 
conflicting  emotions  and  the  doubts  for  liis  fatherland 
to  which  tlie  war  with  Denmark  liad  given  I'ise.  He 
felt  that  the  exaltation  and  victory  of  Germany  in- 
volved the  defeat  of  his  own  king,  whom  he  had  good 
reason  both  to  love  and  honor.  This  inward  struggle, 
during  a  season  of  such  violent  outward  excitement, 
was  too  much  for  the  simple  mind  and  the  loving  heart 
of  the  noble  old  man." 

Claudius  had  returned  to  Wandsbeck  in  May,  1814, 
but  never  again  to  enjoy  his  old  home.    Wearied  with 
11 


242  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

the  burden  of  years,  and  worn  by  bodily  infirmities, 
he  struggled  through  summer  and  autumn.  In  com- 
pliance with  the  earnest  entreaties  of  his  daughter,  he 
removed  to  Hamburgh  in  the  beginning  of  December, 
that  he  miglit  be  within  reach  of  medical  advice. 
"  Papa  is  weary  and  languid,"  wrote  Caroline,  soon 
after  the  arrival  of  lier  father  and  mother  ;  "  but  we 
have  reason  to  be  thankful  that  he  is  free  from  pain. 
He  is  so  calm  and  so  kindly,  I  might  even  say  so  satis- 
fied and  contented,  that  I  am  too  happy  to  see  this,  to 
give  utterance  to  the  grief  which  I  really  feel." 

It  soon  became  evident  that  recovery  was  not  to  be 
expected  ;  but  life  was  prolonged  for  seven  weeks, — 
to  Claudius  a  season  of  thankfulness  and  of  almost 
uninterrupted  calm  and  love  :  the  blue  sky  above,  the 
rising  of  the  sun,  the  sight  of  his  Rebecca,  of  his  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren,  were  all  perpetual  sources  of 
enjoyment.  One  night  he  called  Caroline  to  his  bed- 
side, and  said,  "  I  must  take  something  from  the  night, 
for  the  day  is  too  short  to  thank  you,  my  dear  child." 

Caroline,  writing  a  few  days  before  his  death,  says, 
"  He  is  confident,  peaceful,  and,  except  at  very  short 
intervals,  even  joyful.  Yesterday,  after  half  an  hour 
of  distress  from  difficulty  of  breathing,  he  said  to  Per- 
thes, '  Well,  dear  Perthes,  this  is  all  just  as  it  should 
be,  though  not  pleasant.'  He  then  spoke  of  the  ap- 
proaching struggle,  of  Him  who  is  mighty  to  save,  and 
said  that  he  had  i>laccd  his  whole  confidence  in  God. 
He  is  wonderfully  kiiid  towards  us  all,  and  likes  our 
mother  to  sit  by  his  bed.  He  is  also  anxious  that  you 
absent  ones  should  have  daily  tidings  of  him,  and 
never  fails  to  send  you  his  greeting." 

His  mind  continued  active  to  the  last,  and  he  was 


DEATH   OF   CLAUDIUS.  243 

able  to  trace  the  daily  progress  of  his  own  dissolution 
— of  the  great  mystery  of  the  separation  of  soul 
and  body.  "  I  have  all  my  life  reflected  by  anticipa- 
tion on  these  hours,"  he  said  to  Perthes,  "  and  now 
they  are  come  ;  but  I  still  understand  as  little  as  ever 
about  the  manner  of  the  end." 

During  the  last  few  days  he  prayed  incessantly,  and 
was  pleased  when  he  saw  the  bystanders  praying, 
although  he  did  not  like  prayers  or  exhortations  to  be 
made  aloud.  He  never  relinquished  the  hope  that 
God  would  vouchsafe  him  a  glimpse  into  the  realms 
beyond,  wliile  still  on  this  side  of  the  grave  ;  but 
although  sight  was  not  vouchsafed,  his  faith  was  never 
shaken. 

"  The  21  st  of  January  was  the  day  of  his  death  ; 
about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  became  aware 
that  his  end  was  approaching,  and  prayed,  'Lead 
me  not  into  temptation,  and  deliver  me  from  evil.'  An 
hour  later  he  said  '  Good-night ! '  several  times,  and  in 
the  moment  of  departure  he  opened  his  eyes,  and 
looked  lovingly  upon  his  wife  and  children,  as  though 
they  had  a  right  to  the  last  outgoings  of  affection." 

"  His  mind  was  quite  unimpaired,  and  he  retained 
all  his  originality  and  all  his  peculiarities  to  the  very 
last  hour,"  wrote  Perthes  on  the  day  of  his  father-in- 
law's  death.  "  He  died  without  anxiety — I  may  say, 
he  died  rich  ;  for  even  in  temporal  things  the  fulness 
of  hope  was,  as  usual,  at  his  command.  The  expres- 
sion of  the  whole  person  is  still  very  striking  ;  there 
is  an  air  of  weariness,  as  if  he  were  satisfied  and 
pleased  to  have  done  with  the  earthly  ;  while  the  brow 
still  retains  the  beauty  and  power,  and  the  mouth  all 
the  fulness  of  affection  which  characterized  them  in 


2M  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

life.     The  end  of   this  man  was   indeed   great   and 
noble." 

"  May  God  forgive  us,"  writes  Nicolovius,  "for  feel- 
ing that  such  a  man  could  liave  been  better  spared  in 
heaven  than  upon  earth." — "Death  is  a  hard  step," 
wrote  Caroline,  "  but  to  take  the  step  as  he  did  is  in- 
conceivably great." 

The  solemn  experiences  of  these  weeks,  during  the 
whole  of  which  her  husband  liad  been  at  her  side, 
took  deep  hold  of  Caroline's  mind  ;  and  with  her  lively 
fancy  and  a  heart  ever  seeking  sympathy,  she  felt  it 
to  be  a  lieavy  trial,  that  Perthes,  laden  with  cares, 
business,  and  interests  of  all  kinds,  could  devote  so 
little  time  to  her  and  the  children.  "  My  hope  becomes 
every  day  less  that  Perthes  will  be  able  to  make  any 
such  arrangement  of  his  time  as  will  leave  a  few  quiet 
hours  for  me  and  the  children.  There  is  nothing  that 
I  can  do  but  to  love  him,  and  to  bear  him  ever  in  my 
heart,  till  it  shall  please  God  to  bring  us  together  to 
some  region  where  we  shall  no  longer  need  house  or 
housekeeping,  and  where  there  are  neither  bills  nor 
books  to  be  paid.  Perthes  feels  it  a  heavy  trial,  but 
he  keeps  up  his  spirits,  and  for  this  I  thank  God." 

To  these  and  kindred  feelings  which  she  had  long 
cherished  in  her  heart,  Caroline  now  gave  expression 
in  letters  which  she  wrote  to  Perthes  during  his  ab- 
sence. After  eighteen  years  of  trial  and  vicissitude, 
her  affection  for  her  husband  liad  retained  all  its 
youthful  freshness  ;  life  and  love  had  not  become 
merely  habitual,  they  remained  fresh  and  spontaneous 
as  in  the  bride.  She  always  gave  free  utterance  to 
her  feelings,  in  a  manner  at  once  unrestrained  and 
characteristic,   and   felt   deeply   when   Perthes,   as   a 


DEATH    OP   CLAUDIUS.  245 

^husband,  addressed  her  otherwise  than  he  had  done  as 
a  bridegroom.  Now  that  he  was  detained  for  some 
weeks  in  Leipzig,  this  state  of  feeling  found  expression 
on  both  sides,  half  in  jest  and  half  in  earnest. 

"You  have  indeed  renounced  all  sensibilit}^  for  this 
year,  because  of  your  many  occupations,"  wrote  Caro- 
line a  few  days  after  her  husband's  departure  ;  "  but  I, 
for  my  part,  when  I  write  to  you,  cannot  do  so  without 
feeling  ;  for  the  thought  of  you  excites  all  the  feeling 
of  which  my  heart  is  capable.  Not  a  line  have  I  yet 
received.  Tell  me,  is  it  not  rather  hard  that  you 
never  wrote  me  from  Brunswick  ?  At  least  I  thought 
so,  and  felt  very  much  that  your  companion  G.  should 
have  written  to  his  newly-married  wife,  and  you  not 
to  me.  It  is  the  first  time  you  have  ever  gone  on  a 
journey  without  writing  to  me  from  your  first  resting- 
place.  I  have  been  reading  over  your  earlier  letters 
to  find  satisfaction  to  myself,  in  some  measure  at  least, 
but  it  has  been  a  mixed  pleasure.  Last  year,  at 
Blankenese,  you  promised  me  many  happy  hours  of 
mutual  companionship.  I  have  not  yet  had  them ; 
and  yet  you  owe  many  such  to  me,  yes,  you  do  indeed." 

Perthes  answered,  "  You  write,  telling  me  that  I 
have  renounced  all  sensibility  for  this  year.  This  is 
not  true,  my  dearest  heart,  it  is  quite  otherwise.  I 
think  that  after  so  many  years  of  mutual  interchange 
of  feeling  and  of  thought,  and  when  people  understand 
each  other  thoroughly,  there  is  an  end  of  all  those  lit- 
tle tendernesses  of  expression,  which  represent  a  rela- 
tionship that  is  still  piquant  because  new.  Be  content 
with  me,  dear  child,  we  understand  each  other.  I  did 
not  write  to  you  from  Brunswick,  because  we  passed 
through  quickly.     Moreover,  it  is  not  fair  to  compare 


246  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

me  witli  my  companion,  the  bridegroom  ;  youth  has  its 
features  and  so  also  has  middle  age.  It  would  be  ab- 
surd, indeed,  were  I  now  to  be  looking  by  moonlight 
under  the  trees  and  among  the  clouds  for  young  maid- 
ens, as  I  did  twenty  years  ago,  or  were  to  imagine 
young  ladies  to  be  angels.  Nor  would  it  become  you 
any  better  if  you  were  to  be  dancing  a  gallopade,  or 
clambering  up  trees  in  fits  of  love-enthusiasm.  We 
should  not  find  fault  with  our  having  grown  older  : 
only  be  satisfied,  give  God  the  praise,  and  exercise 
patience  and  forbearance  with  me." 

'*  I  wish  you  were  here  on  this  your  birth-day,"  an- 
swered Caroline  on  the  2ist  of  April,  "  and  had  half  an 
hour  to  spare  to  celebrate  it  with  me  and  the  children. 
The  children  do  their  best,  but  you  are  always  your- 
self, and  have  ever  the  first  place  in  my  heart.  Thank 
God,  my  Perthes,  neither  time  nor  circumstances  can 
ever  affect  my  love  to  you.  It  is,  indeed,  beyond  the 
reach  of  change.  May  God  be  pleased  only  to  spare 
my  life  and  restore  my  health,  and  preserve  you  and 
the  children,  and  maintain  your  love  for  me  unim- 
paired. It  is  all  1  ask  ;  but  there  is  no  end  of  wishing 
and  praying,  and  happily,  none  too,  of  granting, — if 
not  in  our  own  way,  at  least  in  God's.  Your  last  let- 
ter is,  indeed,  a  strange  one.  I  must  again  say,  that 
my  affection  knows  neither  youth  nor  age,  and  is 
eternal.  I  can  detect  no  change,  except  that  I  now 
know  what  formerly  I  only  hoped  and  believed.  I 
never  took  you  for  an  angel,  nor  do  I  now  take  you  for 
the  reverse  ;  neither  did  I  ever  beguile  you  by  assuming 
an  angel's  form  or  angelic  manners.  I  never  danced 
the  gallopade,  or  climbed  trees,  and  am  now  exactly 
what  I  was  then,  only  rather  older  ;  and  you  must 


DEATH   OF    CLAUDIUS.  247, 

take  me  as  I  am,  my  Perthes  : — in  one  word,  love  me, 
and  tell  me  so  sometimes,  and  that  is  all  I  want." 

"Your  answer,"  says  Perthes,  in  his  next  letter, 
"  was  just  what  it  ought  to  Have  been  ;  only  don't  for- 
get that  my  inward  love  for  you  is  as  eternal  as  yours 
is  for  me  ;  but  I  have  so  many  things  to  think  of. 
How  much  of  us  belongs  to  earth,  and  to  man  ? — how 
much  to  heaven?  for  we  belong  to  both."  And  so 
ended  the  correspondence  upon  a  subject  which,  per- 
haps, is  not  altogether  unknown  to  other  married 
persons. 

In  the  middle  of  May  Perthes  returned  to  Ham- 
burgh, and  soon  became  aware  that  Caroline's  health 
required  serious  attention.  The  physician.  Dr.  Schro- 
der, an  old  friend  of  the  family,  had  told  Caroline 
that  her  nervous  system,  although  still  unimpaired, 
was  over-wrought ;  and  that  by  stimulating  the  bodily 
powers  to  exertions  beyond  their  strength,  she  was 
gradually  preparing  the  way  for  disease.  A  change 
of  scene  was  desirable,  and  Caroline,  with  her  younger 
children,  went  to  pass  the  summer  of  1815  at  Wands- 
beck  with  her  motlier. 

During  this  period,  almost  daily  letters  were  ex- 
clianged  between  her  and  her  husband.  While  those 
of  Perthes  were  devoted  to  warnings  and  entreaties  to 
take  care  of  her  health,  the  few  lines  in  which  Caroline 
was  wont  to  reply,  were  full  of  expressions  of  love,  and 
of  sorrow  on  account  of  their  necessary  separation. 

"  I  am  seated  in  the  garden,"  she  writes,  "  and  all 
my  merry  little  birds  around  me.  I  let  the  sun  shine 
upon  me,  and  make  me  well  if  he  can.  God  grant  it ! 
if  it  only  be  so  far  as  to  enable  me  to  discharge  my 
duties  to  my  family  ;  for  I  feel  myself  too  unhappy  as 


248  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

a  mere  cipher."  And  again,  "  I  hope,  my  dear  Perthes, 
that  you  will  again  have  pleasure  in  me  ;  the  waters 
seem  really  to  do  me  good.  Come  to-morrow,  only 
not  too  late.  My  very  soul  longs  for  you." — "  You 
shall  be  thanked  for  the  delightful  hours  that  I  enjoyed 
with  you  yesterday,"  she  wrote  after  a  short  visit  to 
Hamburgh,  "  and  for  the  sight  of  your  dear,  kind  face, 
as  I  got  out  of  the  carriage." — "  I  only  live  when  you 
are  with  me,"  she  writes  a  few  days  later  ;  "  send  Mat- 
thias to  me  if  it  does  not  interfere  with  his  lessons  ;  if 
I  cannot  have  the  father,  I  must  put  up  with  the  son." 

"  The  children  enjoy  their  freedom,  and  are  my  joy 
and  delight :  alas !  for  those  who  have  none  !  "  she 
says  after  telling  some  childish  adventures.  "  But  you, 
dear  old  father  !  you,  too,  are  my  joy  and  delight. 
Let  me  have  a  little  letter  ;  I  cannot  help  longing  for 
one,  and  will  read  it  when  I  get  it  ten  times  over. 
Pray  don't  forget  the  poor  people  in  the  mud-huts  at 
Hamm  :  the  house  is  easily  found,  it  is  in  the  lane,  op- 
posite to  something  particular,  but  I  cannot  remember 
exactly  what." 

With  many  fluctuations  of  health,  Caroline  had  pass- 
ed the  time  at  Wandsbeck  ;  August  had  now  come, 
and  with  it  was  brought  vividly  before  her  mind  the 
many  years  of  happiness  she  had  spent  with  Perthes. 

"  It  is  eighteen  years  to-day,"  she  writes,  "  since  I 
wrote  you  the  last  letter  before  our  marriage,  and  sent 
you  my  first  request  about  the  little  black  cross.  I 
have  asked  for  many  things  in  the  eighteen  years  that 
have  passed  since  then,  dear  Perthes,  and  what  shall  I 
ask  to-day  ?  You  can  tell,  for  you  know  me  well,  and 
know  that  I  have  never  said  an  untrue  word  to  you. 
Only  you  cannot  quite  know  my  indescribable  affection, 


DEATH   OF   CLAUDIUS.  249 

for  it  is  infinite.  Perthes,  my  heart  is  full  of  joy  and 
sadness— would  that  you  were  here  !  This  day  eight- 
een years  ago  I  did  not  long  for  you  more  fervently 
or  more  ardently  than  now.  Thank  God  over  and 
over  again  for  everything !  I  am  and  remain  yours  in 
in  time,  and,  though  1  know  not  how,  in  eternity 
too !  Be  well  pleased,  if  you  come  to-morrow.  Af- 
fection is  certainly  the  greatest  wonder  in  heaven  or 
on  earth,  and  the  only  thing  that  I  can  represent  to 
myself  as  unsatiable  throughout  eternity." 

In  the  middle  of  August  Caroline  returned  to  Ham- 
burgh, and  although  not  fully  restored  to  health,  she 
was  yet  able,  with  sundry  interruptions,  to  superintend 
the  large  household,  and  to  continue  to  minister  com- 
fort and  joy,  support  and  assistance,  to  many  persons 
of  different  classes  and  ages. 

We  have  already  seen  the  alienation  that  had  arisen 
between  Niebuhr  and  Perthes,  when  in  1814  the  latter 
had  regarded  Niebuhr  as  exclusively  Prussian  rather 
than  German  in  his  political  sympathies.  In  1815  he 
had  bitterly  attacked  Niebuhr's  answer  to  Schmalz,  as 
written  from  a  nrerely  Prussian  point  of  view.  These 
violent  political  contests  between  the  former  friends 
seemed  to  offer  little  probability  of  a  renewal  of  friend- 
ship ;  and  on  this  account  it  was  with  no  small  emo- 
tion and  pleasure,  that  Perthes  received  the  following 
lines  from  that  great  and  noble  man,  written  shortly 
before  his  departure  for  Rome  in  the  spring  of  1816  : 
— "  Dearest  Perthes,  I  would  not  willingly  impoverish 
myself,  or  part  poorer  than  inexorable  destiny  may 
have  decreed.  That  destiny  has  beggared  me  in  those 
11* 


250  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

nearest  friendships  in  which  but  one  short  year  since  I 
felt  myself  so  inconceivably  rich.  Three  days  ago  was 
the  anniversary  of  my  father's  death,  with  which  sad 
day  the  destruction  of  my  possessions  began.  My 
friendships  I  know  have  suffered  from  passion  and 
irritability  ; — let  all  be  forgotten  between  us,  and  let 
every  misunderstanding  be  removed  before  I  leave  my 
native  land.     Will  you  accept  this?" 


XXIII 


1816. 


Perthes  had  never  regarded  the  book- trade 
merely  as  a  means  of  subsistence  and  of  per- 
sonal gain  ;  he  had  always  looked  upon  it  as 
one  of  tlie  institutions  by  means  of  which 
spiritual  vitality  is  maintained  in  a  nation. 
His  business  had  indeed  secured  to  him  a 
comfortable  livlihood  and  an  independent 
position;  but  he  never  forgot,  in  the  enjoyment  of 
these  advantages,  that  it  also  involved  the  responsibil- 
ity of  quickly  discerning  and  diligently  supplying  the 
literary  wants  of  the  nation  within  the  sphere  of  'his 
own  business  operations.  It  is  in  this  perpeti^al  am^ 
practical  recognition  of  the  indissoluble  union  existing 
between  his  private  interests  and  the  public  welfare 
that  we  detect  the  secret  of  the  success  that,  to,  th^  enc^ 
of  his  life,  attended  all  his  undertakings.  In  1816,  he 
believed  that  the  time  was  cqme  when  the  German 
book-trade  stood  in  need  of  Si,  fresh  jnip^lse  £\nd  a  par: 
•tial  transformation. 

In  furtherance  of  this  object  he  resolved  to  under- 
take a  journey,  hoping  to  extend  liis  business  connex- 
ions and  at  the  same  time  to  effect  a  more  cordial  and 

(201) 


252  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

fraternal  union  between  North  and  South  Germany, 
with  regard  to  the  book-tj-ade. 

On  Friday  the  19th  of  July,  Perthes  left  Hamburgh 
in  company  with  his  son  Matthias,  then  sixteen  years 
of  age,  w4th  the  intention  of  travelling  by  way  of  Co- 
logne, Frankfort,  and  Munich,  to  Vienna. 

"  Our  journey  has  been  prosperous  thus  far,"  he 
writes  from  Bremen.  **  The  night  was  clear  and  mild, 
and  tlie  postilions  were  good.  The  carriage  is  con- 
venient, and  holds  me  and  our  boy  very  comfortably. 
I  am  somewhat  fatigued  in  mind  and  body  ;  the 
labors  and  efforts  of  the  last  two  years,  coming  imme- 
diately after  the  terrible  anxieties  of  the  fearful  time 
that  preceded  them,  have  shaken  me.  To  you,  my  be- 
loved Caroline,  I  know  not  what  to  say  concerning 
our  present  separation,  but  that  I  believe  I  am  going 
where  God  calls  me.  I  commit  you  and^the  children 
to  His  protection." 

Perthes  travelled  without  stopping  to  Munster,  where 
he  meant  to  stay  some  days.  "  It  is  sad,"  he  writes, 
"  to  see  the  fine  Chaussee,  made  by  the  French  with 
German  money  and  German  labor,  entirely  neglected 
by  the  Hanoverian  government  ;  the  displaced  stones 
are  left  by  the  wayside,  and  in  many  places  between 
Bremen  and  Brinkum,  ^or  instance,  it  is  impossible  to 
travel  by  night ;  yet  the  tolls  are  everywhere  exacted. 
Till  you  approach  Osnabrtick,  the  country  is  dreary 
and  tedious  ;  towards  Bohmte  it  is  more  interesting. 
Here  we  drove  to  sec  the  oak  of  a  thousand  years.  Its 
circumference  at  the  base  is  twenty  paces.  This  giant 
of  antiquity  stands  towering  to  the  sky,  but  bears 
neither  bark,  branches,  nor  boughs  ;  on  one  side  only 
where  a  vein  of  living  sap  still  runs,  the  trunk  is 


JOURNEY   TO   FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN.  253 

covered  with  tender  green  sprouts  ;  a  touching  sight 
this  monument  of  grey  antiquity,  standing  like  some 
ancient  watch-tower,  clothed  with  clustering  ivy.  It 
is  a  pleasing  custom  they  have  here  of  giving  proper 
names  to  horses.  The  horse  is  a  noble  and  intelligent 
animal,  and  quite  as  deserving  of  such  a  distinction  as 
the  dog  ;  and  when  it  has  a  name,  it  has  made  some 
advance  towards  personality.^' 

"  Here  I  am  once  more  in  old  Miinster,"  he  says  in 
another  letter,  "  and  find  it  as  usual,  devotional  and 
lively.  Yesterday,  at  noon,  July  22d,  we  arrived,  and 
as  we  alighted  I  saw  Count  Joseph  Westphalen,  riding 
across  the  Square,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  about  to 
leave  the  town,  but  we  enjoyed  a  quarter  of  an  hour's 
cordial  communion  :  after  this  I  inquired  for  our  old 
friends,  and  paid  many  visits.  Bishop  Droste  is  on  a 
journey,  but  is  expected  back  to-morrow.  I  was  in- 
vited to  the  President  von  Vincke's,  and  found  several 
members  of  the  council  of  Miinster  there,  and  a  few 
also  from  Minden.  The  conversation  was  animated 
and  unrestrained,  and  the  men  seemed  to  me  to  be  of 
the  right  German  sort,  simple,  intelligent,  and  well- 
intentioned  :  Vincke  bears  the  impress  of  a  gifted 
man,  capable  of  accomplishing  much  by  the  union  of 
power  and  promptitude.  In  his  carriage  and  his  ges- 
tures he  often  reminds  me  of  Niebuhr,  while  in  acute- 
ness,  solidity,  and  genuine  German  character,  he  may 
be  compared  with  Moser." 

"  Early  this  morning,  July  24,"  he  writes  to  Caro- 
line, "  the  dear  Bishop  took  me  to  his  house,  which, 
though  comfortably,  is  very  simply  fitted  up.  We  were 
alone  for  two  hours,  and  spoke  together  with  perfect 
openness.     We  understand  each  other,  though  on  cer- 


254  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

tain  important  points  we  are  not  on  the  same  track. 
He  is  calm,  stedfast,  decided,  and  liberal  in  the  best 
sense,  for  his  liberality  is  the  fruit  of  love.  I  went 
with  him  to  visit  his  brother  Clement,  and  thence  to 
call  on  the  other  brother,  Canon  Francis,  where  we 
met  Katerkamp  and  the  vigorous  old  Vicar  Konrad, 
who  now  has  a  living  in  the  country  ;  the  venerable 
Overberg,  alas  !  I  did  not  see,  for  he  was  travelling. 
The  hours  that  I  spent  in  the  society  of  these  men  will 
always  live  in  my  memory  :  it  did  one  good  to  look 
at  the  three  brothers.  Clement  is  matured  in  every 
quality  which  can  call  forth  respect,  is  full  of  fire  and 
energy,  simple  and  sure  :  Francis  is  talented,  acute, 
and  lively.  They  are  all  alike  distinguished  by  hon- 
esty of  purpose  and  purity  of  heart,  and  in  each  the 
outer  man  reflects  what  is  within.  It  is  an  advantage 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  have  men  of  social 
distinction  among  its  priesthood,  but  they  must  be  of 
the  right  sort.  Clement  has  lately  returned  from 
Rome,  and  is  laboring  zealously  for  the  freedom  of  the 
Church,  *  in  order,'  as  he  says,  '  tliat  aspirations  after 
divine  things,  and  the  free  movement  of  the  higher 
spiritual  life,  may  not  be  subjected  to  the  supervision 
of  the  State  and  the  control  of  the  police.'  In  a  high- 
er ecclesiastical  position  he  might  become  too  depend- 
ent on  Rome  to  work  freely." 

"  On  the  24th  of  July  we  left  Munster,"  says  Per- 
thes in  another  letter.  "  From  Hagen,  which  we 
reached  next  morning,  the  country  assumes  an  aspect 
unusual  in  Germany.  In  the  valley,  which  is  about 
two  miles  broad,  with  a  number  of  lateral  valleys 
opening  into  it,  lie  closely  crowded  together  factories 
and  mills  and  smithies,  all  encircled  by  trim  gardens. 


JOURNEY  TO   FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN.  255 

The  slopes  of  the  low  hills  are  covered  with  corn,  the 
summits  with  wood.  For  four  hours  we  travelled 
through  this  wealthy  district,  till  we  got  to  Schwelm, 
and  looked  from  the  heiglit  into  the  Wupperthal,  and 
down  on  a  little  clustering  town.  From  the  summit 
the  view  of  the  valley  is  very  striking, — the  hills 
crowned  with  wood,  and  their  declivities  clothed  with 
grain,  or  adorned  with  emerald  meadows,  here  white 
as  snow,  there  with  a  purple  hue,  or  glittering  in  va- 
rious colors  according  to  the  dyes  of  the  outspread 
manufactured  stuffs,  and  far  below,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Wupper,  lordly  mansions,  with  their  fine  flower-gar- 
dens and  luxurious  and  sometimes  tawdry  decorations  ; 
the  fruits  of  that  incredible  manufacturing  activity 
which  will  be  the  grave  of  our  character,  our  morals, 
and  our  power.  The  children  work  in  the  factories 
from  eight,  or  even  six  years  of  age  ;  become  cripples 
and  beget  cripples  ;  and  the  efforts  of  the  so-called 
pietists  to  put  a  stop  to  this  style  of  things  have  hith- 
erto been  as  unsuccessful  as  the  exertions  of  the  gov- 
ernment." 

It  was  at  Diisseldorf,  and  by  the  light  of  a  fine  sun- 
set, that  Perthes  first  saw  the  Rhine.  "  The  glorious 
river  makes  a  grand  impression,"  he  says  ;  "  it  is  true 
that,  like  the  Elbe  at  Hamburgh,  it  flows  through  a 
level  country.  I  should  not  say  flows,  but  streams  im- 
petuously, for  there  is  a  vast  difference  ;  yet  the  Rhine 
can  never  form  so  beautiful  a  mirror  as  the  Elbe  occa- 
sionally does.  We  have  now,  my  beloved  Caroline,  the 
Elbe,  the  Weser,  the  Ems,  the  Ruhr,  and  soon  we  shall 
have  the  Rhine,  too,  between  us  ;  but  love  and  devotion 
recognize  no  boundaries.  Be  confident.  Your  glances 
into  the  past,  and  fearful  and  hopeful  longings,  are  in- 


L 


256  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

deed  guarantees  for  the  great  future  beyond  the  grave  ; 
yet  do  not  forget  that  a  vigorous  grasp  of  the  present 
is  our  duty  so  long  as  we  are  upon  earth.  It  is  the 
present  moment  that  supplies  the  energy  and  decision 
which  fit  us  for  life.  Retrospect  brings  sadness,  and 
the  dark  future  excites  fears,  so  that  we  should  be  crip- 
pled in  our  exertions  were  we  not  to .  lay  a  vigorous 
grasp  upon  the  present." 

Perthes  passed  some  days  in  the  family  of  his  broth- 
er-in-law. Max  Jacobi,  who  had  lately  exchanged  the 
post  of  Director  of  the  great  Hospital  at  Salzburg,  for 
that  of  State-councillor  at  Diisseldorf.  They  had  not 
met  since  1808,  and  in  reminiscences  of  the  great 
events  in  midst  of  which  both  had  lived,  the  hours 
passed  quickly  away.  It  was  with  deep  emotion  that, 
at  Pempelfort,  Perthes  looked  on  the  spot,  where  in 
bygone  times,  before  the  stormy  season  of  the  first  rev- 
olutionary war,  Frederick  Henry  Jacobi  had  formed 
the  centre  of  a  highly  cultivated  circle,  and  had  re- 
ceived as  his  guests,  Goethe,  Herder,  Lavater,  Ha- 
mann,  Schlosser,  Heinze,  the  Princess  Gallitzin,  and  so 
many  others  :  and  thus  in  recollections  of  the  past, 
rather  than  in  observation  of  the  present,  the  time  was 
spent  in  Diisseldorf.  But  the  general  impression  that 
even  the  passing  traveller  almost  inevitably  receives, 
was  not  favorable  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  town. 
"  There  is  an  appearance  of  restlessness  and  incon- 
stancy in  the  countenance,  bearing,  and  manners  of  the 
people  ;  their  features  are  not  well  defined,  and  they 
do  not  look  like  men  whom  one  would  choose  as  asso- 
ciates in  a  time  of  peril." 

"  Hoffmann  and  Keetmann  accompanied  us  to  Benrath, 
a  summer  palace,  commanding  a  fine  prospect,  where 


JOURNEY  TO   FRANKPORT-ON-THE-MAIN.  257 

Murat,  when  Grand-Duke  of  Berg,  used  to  pass  much 
of  his  time  ;  thence  we  travelled  through  an  exuber- 
ance of  fruitfulness,  by  Miilheira  and  Deutz  to  Cologne." 
"  It  is  difficult  to  give  you  any  idea  of  Cologne,"  he 
writes  in  a  letter  to  Caroline,  "  for  all  is  so  new  to  us 
— men,  manners,  and  customs,  the  city,  the  houses,  and 
the  institutions.  We  have  already  seen  much  that  is 
grand  and  beautiful,  and  also  much  that  is  comic. 
Don't  be  alarmed  at  our  having  become  somewhat 
Catholic  :  in  the  cathedral  there  was  a  service  against 
the  rain,  and  at  night  there  were  torch-light  proces- 
sions, the  priests  praying  aloud,  and  were  we  travellers 
to  keep  aloof?  As  soon  as  wo  arrived,  we  wandered 
through  the  city.  The  streets,  lanes,  and  alleys,  very 
appropriately  called  Spargassen,  are  strangely  intricate 
and  perplexing.  Houses  of  all  periods,  antiquities  of 
all  ages,  are  here  seen  side  by  side  ;  in  a  few  paces  you 
walk  through  the  history  of  the  old  Roman  times. 
The  Colognese  dwell  among  the  stones  and  the  ruins 
of  fifteen  hundred  years ;  they  are  distinguished  by  pecu- 
liarity of  dialect,  carriage,  and  manners.  On  the  street 
floor  most  of  the  houses  have  only  a  counting-house  or 
shop  with  a  dark  room  at  the  back  ;  above  are  ware- 
houses and  large  rooms  without  windows,  the  frequent 
dwelling-place  of  the  bat  and  the  owl.  But  on  passing 
til  rough  the  ground-floor  to  the  back  of  the  house,  you 
find  well-built,  spacious  rooms,  in  which  the  family  live 
as  quietly  as  if  they  were  in  the  country,  and  which 
frequently  open  into  large  gardens  surrounded  by  ven- 
erable walls  festooned  with  ivy  and  other  climbing 
plants.  We  saw  a  number  of  small  houses  built  against 
the  old  Roman  city  wall,  and  clustered  together  in  mid 
air,  like  swallows'  nests.     How  many  generations  with 


258  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

their  joys  and  sorrows  have  passed  away  within  them  ! 
But  amid  the  ruins  of  the  past  we  were  pleasantly  re- 
minded of  the  present  by  a  glass  case,  protected  by 
wire-work  like  a  parrot's  cage,  and  containing  three 
merry  and  fine-looking  children,  which  was  let  down 
upon  us  as  we  passed  under  a  window.  These  floating 
children's  rooms  are  hung  out  of  the  windows  in  tlie 
sunshine,  or  when  there  is  anything  to  be  seen. — We 
went  to  the  cathedral  on  the  day  of  our  arrival  though 
it  was  already  half  dark  ;  our  cicerone  unceremoni- 
ously tapped  on  the  shoulder  a  very  old  priest,  who 
was  kneeling  and  praying  diligently,  and  the  old  man 
rose  at  once  from  his  knees,  in  order  to  do  the  honors 
of  the  cathedral  to  us,  while  the  cicerone  knelt  down 
in  his  place,  and  carried  on  the  prayers.  To-day  we 
went  again  for  the  third  time  to  the  cathedral.  On 
entering  the  choir,  every  one  is  expected  to  drop  his 
alms.  What  honor  has  been  conferred  upon  man  in 
jnaking  him  the  instrument  by  which  the  Spirit  of  God 
produces  such  wonderful  works !  It  is  impossible  to 
write  about  it.  St.  Peter's  has  now  recovered  the  pic- 
ture of  the  Crucifixion  of  Peter,  painted  by  Rubens, 
and  presented  by  him  to  this  church  in  which  he  was 
baptized.  It  was  taken  to  Paris  by  the  French,  but  I 
am  afraid  that  the  barbarity  which  did  not  scruple  to 
tear  even  this  precious  legacy  from  the  very  altar  will 
soon  be  forgotten  by  the  inhabitants.  This  morning, 
after  visiting  the  Wallraff  collection  of  Colognese  an- 
tiquities, lohere  1  miglit  have  learned  much  if  I  had  known 
more,  we  went  to  the  liouse  of  Schauberg  the  bookseller, 
a  very  well-informed  and  highly  cultivated  man,  and 
there  met  Professor  Wallraff,  State-councillor  von 
Harthausen,  Captain  Birsch,  and  a  Herr  de  Groot. 


I 


JOURNEY   TO   FRANKFOnT-ON-THE-MAIN.  259 

Several  hours  passed  rapidly  away  in  animated  con- 
versation ;  Catholicism  and  Protestantism  being  among 
the  subjects  discussed.  On  my  mentioning  the  inci- 
dent of  the  cicerone  and  the  priest,  and  referring  to 
similar  indecencies  of  daily  occurrence  in  Catholic 
churches,  I  was  told  that  it  was  the  office  of  this  priest 
to  show  the  relics,  and  that  whether  praying  or  not,  he 
must  needs  be  always  ready  to  discharge  the  functions 
of  his  office  ;  that  among  Catholics  it  was  the  custom 
to  treat  God  with  familiarity,  as  a  father,  and  thus 
they  could  occasionally  put  Him  on  one  side  with  child- 
like confidence,  while  Protestants  who,  on  the  contrary, 
always  make  an  effort  when  they  pray,  must  be  on  cer- 
emony with  Him  as  they  would  with  some  stranger  of 
rank !  This  reminded  me  of  the  drunken  Catholic 
peasants  who,  before  they  begin  to  fight,  with  a  similar 
confiding  spirit,  put  the  crucifix  under  the  table,  that 
the  Lord  may  not  be  a  witness  to  the  scandal !" 

On  the  31st  of  July,  Perthes  left  Cologne  for  Godes-  ^ 
berg.  "  At  Godesberg,"  he  writes,  ''  there  is  a  mineral 
bath.  Everybody  is  dispirited  by  the  incessant  rain. 
I  am  determined  to  be  cheerful,  for  the  enjoyment  of 
nature  was  not  the  object  of  my  journey  -,  yet  the 
farmers  have  but  too  much  cause  for  uneasiness.  All 
have  failed — corn,  grapes,  and  fruit — and  the  prospect 
is  dreary  enough  :  '  Believe  me,'  said,  an  intelligent 
man,  *  the  winter  of  1816-17  will  bring  famine.'  " 

Perthes  reached  Coblentz  on  the  1st  of  August,  and 
early  on  the  following  morning,  the  anniversary  of  his 
wedding,  wrote  to  Caroline  : — "  You  are  awake  I  am 
sure,  and  looking  towards  me  as  I  to  you.  We  have 
known  fulness  of  joy  in  our  nineteen  years  of  wedded 
life,  and  have  also  experienced  much  trouble  and  sor- 


260  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

row  ;  God  be  praised  for  both !  I  again  hold  out  my 
hand  to  you,  beloved  one  !  for  the  years  that  are  yet 
appointed  to  us  ;  let  us  meet  them  bravely.  Matthias 
is  just  awake,  and  he,  too,  greets  his  mother.  The  day 
is  breaking  :  the  dark  majestic  rock  of  Ehrenbreitstein 
rises  in  the  east  and  hides  the  sun,  whicli,  nevertheless, 
casts  kindly  rays  athwart  into  the  valley  that  winds 
between  the  heights,  while  a  thick  grey  mist  is  still 
brooding  over  the  rushing  Rhine  in  the  plain  beneath." 
"  This  morning,"  he  says  in  a  letter  written  on  the 
evening  of  the  same  day,  "  I  went  to  Gorres."^  He  is 
a  tall,  well-made  man,  energetic  and  plain-spoken,  but 
withal  somewhat  aifected.  The  genial  spirit  and  the 
kindling  fancy  appear  at  once.  In  figure  he  reminds 
me  of  Benzenberg,  only  he  looks  abler  ;  he  speaks  like 
Steffens.  I  found  him  alone ;  liis  wife  was  at  the 
bleaching-field  with  a  great  washing ;  she  came  in 
afterwards — a  cordial,  unaffected,  and  very  amiable 
,woman,  with  a  good,  clear  intellect.  The  children 
were  with  her,  a  very  pretty  girl  of  fifteen — a  frank, 
lively  boy  of  twelve,  whom  I  would  gladly  have  taken 
with  me,  and  another  little  wild  girl ;  altogether  an 
amiable  family,  and  a  well-ordered  burgher  household, 
simple  and  beautifully  clean.  Everything  bears  the 
impress  of  Gdrres^  strong  moral  sense  ;  the  same  can- 
not be  said  of  all  gifted  men.  At  noon  we  went  in 
company  with  him  and  President  Meusebach  to  the 
Procurator-General  Eichhorn,  and  afterwards  Gorres 

*  J.  J.  Gorres  was  born  at  Coblentz  in  1*7*76.  lie  was  celebrated  as 
a  political  orator,  and  was  for  some  time  editor  of  a  Journal  called 
"  Das  Rothe  Blatt."  He  held  an  eminent  place  among  the  politicians 
of  the  time.  In  1827  he  was  appointed  to  the  Chair  of  History  in 
Munich. 


JOURNEY   TO   FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN.  261 

and  the  President  accompanied  us  to  Ehrenbreitstein, 
and  like  experienced  guides,  showed  us,  through  the 
chinks  of  the  demolished  fortress,  wonderfully  fine 
glimpses  of  the  vale  below.  Meusebach  was  delighted 
with  Matthias,  and  chased  him  from  rock  to  rock. 
This  Gorres  was  pleased  to  call  a  mere  literary  predi- 
lection for  the  grandson  of  Claudius,  whom,  indeed, 
the  President  does  not  deem  sufficiently  honored  till 
his  works  are  printed  in  grand  folio  volumes,  instead 
of  in  their  present  octavo  form,  or  else  written  on 
parchment !  Among  these  antiquarian  gentlemen,  the 
value  of  a  book  is  determined  by  the  antiquity  of  the 
form,  by  the  type,  and  the  binding.  The  evening  was 
spent  in  cheerful  society  at  Gorres'  house." 

In  the  house  of  Gorres  and  all  along  the  Rhine,  at 
that  time,  there  was  no  escaping  political  discussion. 
"  The  dinner  to-day  was  very  animated  and  interest- 
ing," says  Perthes  in  his  next  letter  from  Coblentz. 
"  Meusebach  and  a  hard-headed  old  knight  of  the  iroi; 
cross*  formed  the  Prussian  party  versus  the  Rhenish- 
Gorres,  and  set  down  all  the  liberal  ideas  and  institu- 
tions developed  by  the  Revolution  as  '  Napoleonism,' 
declaring  tliat  that  was  what  the  Rhenish  people  loved 
and  would  fain  have  back  again.  '  You  are  Lithua- 
nians,' cried  Gorres  from  the  other  sido  of  the  table — 
*  Lithuanians  with  the  fetters  of  serfdom  yet  hanging 
about  your  heels.'  This  mutual  esteem  between  Prus- 
sian and  Rhenish  does  not  appear  to  me  to  be  limited 
to  the  intercourse  of  the  table.  The  Rhenish  are, 
however,  genuine   Germans  in   spite  of  their  twenty 

®  The  iron -cross  was  a  decoration  conferred  on  those  who  had  fought 
in  the  war  of  Independence. 


262  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

years'  subjection  to  France  ;  although,  of  the  Germany 
on  the  other  side  Frankfort  they  know  nothing  what- 
ever. They  regard  their  own  concerns  as  all-impor- 
tant, their  own  as  the  only  beautiful  country,  and 
theirs  as  the  only  liberal  ideas  :  to  them  barbarism 
begins  where  Frankfort  ends,  and  they  only  take  occa- 
sional cognizance  of  what  lies  beyond,  and  then  with  a 
kind  of  condescending  compassion.  I  like  the  Co- 
lognese  best ;  with  all  their  petty  State  notions  there 
mingles  somewhat  of  the  great  City-feeling  of  olden 
times  when  cities  were  principalities.  They,  and  they 
alone,  have  a  history,  and  therefore  are  entitled  to  self- 
respect.  It  will  be  hard  for  Prussia  to  win  over 
Dtisseldorf  and  Coblentz  ;  there  is  an  unsteadiness 
about  the  people,  and  a  disposition  to  gainsay  every- 
thing, even  in  matters  of  religion.  Catholicism  is  well 
adapted  to  Munster  and  Westphalia  :  it  is  at  home 
there,  and  appears  as  the  growth  of  the  soil ;  but  on 
the  Rhine  it  is  like  an  exotic,  or  something  ingrafted 
or  assumed,  and  therefore  a  mere  external  ornament. 
It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  state  of  things  that  our  Prot- 
estant Bible  Society  began  its  work  of  furnishing 
Catholics  with  Bibles,  and  this  often  by  means  which, 
if  adopted  by  Catholics,  we  should  style  Jesuitical 
and  proselytizing.  The  future  welfare  of  the  country 
and  its  position  with  respect  to  Prussia  depend  greatly 
on  the  personal  character  of  the  bishops  who  are  about 
to  be  appointed.  Kaspar,  Droste,  and  Sailer  are  men- 
tioned. What  an  infinite  amount  of  labor  and  of  in- 
fluence they  might  take  from  the  government  if  they 
were  inclined !  This  evening  I  have  taken  leave  of 
Gorres.  The  force  of  his  understanding  must  be  evi- 
dent to  every  one  who  hears  him  speak  ;  but  there  is 


JOURNEY   TO   FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN.  263 

great  confusion  in  his  views.  His  letters  and  his 
writings  had  prepared  me  for  hasty  conclusions,  start- 
lings  paradoxes,  flights  of  fancy  and  of  wit,  but  not 
for  his  often  self-contradictory  and  really  revolution- 
ary arguments.  Gorres  does  not  know  what  he  wants. 
The  elements  of  the  positive  are  in  him,  but  the  dis- 
trict, the  time,  and  the  city  in  which  he  lives,  have  in- 
grafted on  it  a  spirit  of  opposition  which  is  not  worthy 
of  him.  Beyond  the  limits  of  Frankfort  and  Heidel- 
berg, he,  like  the  rest,  is  absolutely  unacquainted  with 
our  fatherland." 

In  order  to  speak  with  Baron  von  Stein,  Perthes 
chose  the  route  by  Ems  and  Wiesbaden,  rather  than 
that  by  Bingen  and  Mainz.  '•  On  leaving  Ems,"  he 
w^rites,  "  you  see  on  a  hill  that  rises  before  you  the 
ruins  of  the  castle  that  was  the  cradle  of  the  Nassau 
race,  and  beneath,  raised  upon  a  rocky  eminence,  the  re- 
mains of  the  castle  of  Stein.  In  the  valley  below,  the 
Lahn  winds  its  way  through  charming  meadow  lands, 
and  in  a  narrow  bend  of  the  stream  lies  the  little  town 
of  Nassau,  and  near  it  Stein's  present  castle.  I  sent 
in  my  name,  and  was  received  by  him  in  a  very  friendly 
manner,  and  recognized  as  an  old  acquaintance,  on  ac- 
count of  our  meeting  here  in  December,  1813.  He  re- 
quested me  to  sit  down.  'You  are  going  to  Vienna? 
What  do  you  want  there  ?  What  do  you  want  with 
me  V  Assuredly,  he  who  did  not  know  precisely  what 
he  wanted  with  Stein,  would  very  quickly  find  himself 
outside  of  the  door.  I  explained  my  views  and  in- 
tentions in  few  words,  and  he  went  into  the  whole 
affair  at  once,  heart  and  soul.  He  then  asked  me 
about  tlie  Ilanse-towns,  and  whether  any  fresh  blood 
had  found  its  way  into  the  Hamburgh  Senate, — the 


264  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

perukes  lie  had  once  seen  there  had  made  no  pleasing 
impression. 

Gorres,  he  said,  was  a  genius,  a  learned  and  upright 
man,  but  he  would  not  listen  to  counsel,  though  the 
Chancellor  had  done  his  utmost  to  keep  him  within 
bounds  ;  finally,  that  both  in  and  out  of  Prussia  there 
Avere  blunders  and  evils,  and  so  it  had  ever  been,  and 
so  it  would  be  to  the  end  of  the  world.  'Neverthe- 
less, even  in  Frankfort,'  he  added,  '  you  will  see  that 
good  also  is  in  store  for  Germany,  and,  therefore,  for 
Europe  ;  for  the  present  conservators  of  freedom — the 
English — will  hardly  continue  so  much  longer.'  Stein 
invited  me  to  dinner,  and  on  my  refusal,  accompanied 
me  to  the  door,  in  order  to  show  me  a  stone  tower  in 
process  of  erection.  On  my  saying,  '  that  will  be  a 
Zwing-Uri,  not  against  the  people,  but  for  them,'  he 
laughed  heartily,  and  shook  my  hand ,  and  thus  I  left  a 
man,  who,  after  a  world-wide  experience,  is  yet  open  to 
every  new  impression  ;  and  who  though  so  many  of 
his  schemes  have  foundered,  and  though  he  has  been  so 
often  compelled  by  the  will  of  the  Prince,  or  by  an  un- 
favorable majority  in  the  council,  to  withdraw  his 
plans  for  the  progress  of  the  people,  is  still  full  of 
hope.  We  got  on  afterwards  as  far  as  Wiesbaden, 
and  this  morning,  August  the  4th,  arrived  in  Frank- 
fort." 


XXIV. 


T  Frankfort,  Perthes  found  letters  informing 
him  of  the  sudden  and  serious  illness  of  Car- 
oline. He  had  resolved  on  a  hasty  return, 
when,  in  a  letter  from  Caroline  herself,  he 
was  assured  that  all  danger  was  over.  "How 
can  I  thank  you  for  your  letters,"  she  wrote, 
"  and  for  the  lively  enjoyment  that  they  afford 
me  ?  If  I  were  not  altogether  yours,  I  would  now  give 
myself  to  you  anew.  You  cannot  conceive  how  thank- 
ful I  am.  To-day  I  have  another  letter,  while  I  am 
still  enjoying  those  from  Cologne  and  Coblentz.  They 
are  living  pictures  of  your  inner  life,  and  of  all  that 
you  are  seeing  and  doing,  and  are  inexpressibly  dear 
to  me.  Often  I  can  scarcely  persuade  myself  that  it 
is  only  a  narrative,  it  is  so  exactly  as  if  I  were  pres- 
ent at  all  you  describe.  Ruben's  picture  of  Peter  hangs 
before  me  day  and  night,  and  yet  it  is  too  terribly  beau- 
tiful to  have  always  before  my  eyes.  I  am  also  thank- 
ful to  God  for  keeping  you  so  well,  after  so  many  years 
of  wearing  labor." 

His  mind  set  at  rest  by  this  letter,  Perthes  could  now 
surrender  himself  without  anxiety  to  the  manifold  im- 
pressions of  Frankfort  life.  "  I  did  not  find  one  of  my 
personal  friends  here  on  my  arrival,"  he  says,  "  and 
was  consequently  obliged  to  make  my  own  way  ;  and 
12  \-<>5) 


266  CAROLINE    PEIcTHEr:;. 

first  I  souglit  out  Frederick  Scblegel,  whom,  notwith- 
standing our  long  correspondence,  I  had  never  seen. 
He  is  a  fat,  round  man,  with  very  bright  eyes,  which, 
nevertheless,  look  coldly  out :  he  lias  shortness  in  his 
manner,  which  you  may  call  straightforwardness  if  you 
will.  He  gave  a  very  friendly  reception,  and  yet  I 
did  not  feel  myself  constrained  to  open  my  heart  to 
him.  I  passed  the  evening  at  his  house  in  company 
with  Buchholz  ;  you  remember  this  accomplished,  amia- 
ble southron  of  1813.  Frau  von  Schlegel  made  a  very 
favorable  impression  on  me.  She  may,  indeed,  have 
passed  through  a  hard  apprenticeship  ;  but  she  seems 
to  me  to  have  won  the  victory,  and  appears  to  be  an 
unassuming,  sensible  woman. 

Among  those  who  were  accounted  the  most  zealous 
Protestants,  Perthes  found  almost  as  much  to  dissent 
from  as  among  the  Catholic  circles  of  Frankfort.  '*  I 
shall  name  first  the  Senator  J.  F.  von  Meyer,"  he  writes, 
"  the  same  who,  under  the  signature  Imo,  wrote  the 
criticisms  in  the  Heidelberg  Annual,  on  Jacobi,  Goe- 
the, and  Claudius,  which  so  much  charmed  us.  I  met 
him  with  feelings  of  respectful  anticipation,  but  quickly 
found  myself  repulsed,  and  in  a  few  minutes  involved 
in  a  violent  argument  with  him.  You  see  at  once  that 
he  is  a  man  of  talent  and  weight ;  but  he  is  ever  ready 
to  do  battle  for  petty  points  of  controversy,  in  support 
of  which  he  has  an  infinite  number  of  texts  at  his  fin- 
gers' ends.  He  is  undoubtedly  a  man  of  piety,  and  full 
of  genuine  humility  towards  God,  but  what  he  says,  he 
says  in  the  name  of  God,  and  carries  it  very  proudly 
towards  men.  To  him  Rome  is  Antichrist,  Stolberg  a 
castaway,  who  does  not  know  what  the  grace  of  God 
is  ;  every  other  Christian  community  is  good  only  when 


PERTHES'   LETTERS   TO   CAROLINE.  267 

compared  with  Rome,  in  other  respects  they  have  only 
the  external  form  of  Christianity." 

Wilhelra  von  Humboldt,  an  old  personal  acquaint- 
ance, received  Perthes  with  great  cordiality,  and  took 
up  the  book-trade  question  with  zeal.  After  an  after- 
noon passed  in  his  family  circle,  in  company  with  the 
Secretary  of  Legation,  Count  Flemming,  and  Yon  Bil- 
low, Perthes  wrote,  "  There  is  a  wonderful  atmosphere 
about  a  really  great  man ;  nowhere  do  we  feel  so  much 
at  home;  nowhere  does  one  feel  so  free  and  happy. 
Through  all  the  light  play  of  conversation,  in  which 
he  takes  quite  an  equal  share  with  his  wife,  the  real, 
actual  greatness  of  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt  comes  out, 
and  I  am  confirmed  in  my  old  opinion,  so  often  laughed 
at,  that  under  an  ice-cold  exterior,  and  a  keen-edged 
sarcasm,  this  man  conceals  deep  and  warm  feelings,  and 
a  lively  interest  in  Germany." 

At  the  end  of  a  week  Perthes  prepared  to  leave 
Frankfort.  "  I  am,"  he  wrote,  "  so  thoroughly  tired 
of  eating  and  drinking,  of  speaking  and  hearing,  and 
of  the  exuberance  of  talent  and  wit  which  I  have  here 
encountered,  that  although  there  are  still  influential 
men  I  would  fain  see,  I  have  determined  to  depart.  I 
have  received  letters  of  all  kinds  for  Vienna.  Schle- 
gel,  whom  I  met  this  morning  at  breakfast  at  Smidf s, 
after  partaking  of  some  fresh  herrings  that  our  host 
had  just  received  from  Bremen,  asked  me,  on  my  con- 
science, whether  I  was  not  a  Freemason,  or  a  member 
of  some  other  secret  society,  and  when  I  said  I  was 
not,  he  commended  me  to  the  Director  of  the  Police  at 
Vienna,  Councillor  von  Ohms.  And  now  for  the 
southern  Tetrarchy — Darmstadt,  Baden,  Wiirtemberg, 
and  Bavaria." 


2G8  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

As  he  left  Frankfort  on  the  12th  of  August  at  noon, 
Perthes  cast  a  last  look,  from  the  Sachsenhatiser  Tower, 
across  the  broad  plain,  with  its  innumerable  towns  and 
villages,  watered  by  the  silver  stream,  and  stretching 
itself  in  luxuriant  fertility  at  the  foot  of  the  Taunus 
range.  "It  is  from  this  point,"  he  says,  "  that  one  first 
learns  to  appreciate  the  splendid  situation  of  Frank- 
fort. How  many  memories  of  former  times,  and  of  its 
grand  old  history,  are  awakened  as  one  looks  upon  the 
outspread  city  ;  and  how  many  conflicting  efforts  in 
which  the  welfare  of  Germany  and  of  Europe  are  in- 
volved, are  now  mutually  clashing  there!  Immediate- 
ly on  leaving  the  Sachsenhatiser  Tower,  you  are  in  the 
Darmstadt  territory,  which  is  like  a  piece  of  patchwork. 
Here — the  capital  with  the  original  domains  of  the 
Landgrave — in  the  distance  isolated  Giessen,  and,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Rhine,  Electoral  Mainz,  with  a 
portion  of  the  Archiepiscopal  territory.  The  little 
place  seems  to  have  been  bent  on  great  things,  for  the 
gates  are  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  city.  But  though 
the  greatness  is  yet  unachieved,  things  seem  in  good 
order,  and  much  has  been  done  to  promote  science  and 
literature.  I  went  to  Leske  the  bookseller,  and  asked 
him  if  he  could  tell  me  where  Claudius  had  formerly 
lived  ?  '  Here,  in  this  room,^  he  replied.  *  My  house 
was  the  printing-office  of  the  journal  which  was  begun 
under  the  superintendence  of  Claudius,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  invalids.'  Late  in  the  evening  I  saw  the  house 
again.  The  moon  was  shining  brightly,  and  I  thought 
of  the  little  Caroline  who  had  played  here  so  many 
years  ago.  On  the  well-known  Bergstrasse  between 
Darmstadt  and  Heidelberg,  we  were  met  by  large  par- 
ties of  emigrants,  whom  a  characteristic  restlessness 


269 


drives  from  this  earthly  paradise  to  the  barren  steppes 
of  Russia.  On  tlie  other  hand,  what  numbers  of  peas- 
ants from  the  Breisgau*  flock  hither  for  the  harvest! 
We  encountered  a  large  party  of  these  reapers  talking 
a  simple  Hebelt  language.  The  girls,  with  their  pretty 
faces,  short  petticoats,  and  short  morals,  were  quite 
on  simple  Old  Testament  terms  with  the  lads  who  ac- 
companied them.  The  Heidelberg  students  who  find 
their  way  into  this  Canaan,  must  have  a  hard  time  of 
it." 

At  Heidelberg  Perthes  passed  three  days  full  of  in- 
terest and  instruction.  His  first  visit  was  to  Profes- 
sor Thibaut,  whom  he  had  known  at  Kiel.  Under  his 
guidance  he  saw  the  castle  and  the  Konigs-stuhl,  and 
feasted  his  eyes  on  the  fine  outlines  and  luxuriant 
verdure  of  the  mountains.  He  was  particularly  struck 
with  the  graceful  melancholy  of  the  weeping  willow, 
which  thci-e  attains  a  size  and  height  unknown  in 
North  Germany  ;  while  the  famous  Yat  delighted  him 
as  a  specimen  of  genuine  German  humorous  folly.  At 
the  liouse  of  Mohr,  the  bookseller,  he  spent  a  pleas- 
ant evening  in  company  with  Daub  and  Kreutzer,  with 
whom  he  had  no  previous  acquaintance.  To  his  great 
delight  he  also  met  Pastor  Zimmer,  who  had  formerly 
served  in  his  own  warehouse,  and  had  left  him  to  es- 
tablish a  business  of  his  own  in  Heidelberg.  Amid 
all  the  hindrances  of  a  laborious  business  life,  he  had 
acquired  the  classical  languages,  studied  theology, 
passed  his  examinations,  and  had  now  assumed  the 
priestly  office  in  Worms.     "  When  I.  see  my  dear  Zim- 

*  A  district  of  Baden,  in  which  wooden  clocks  and  toys  are  made, 
f  A  writer  of  great  naivete  and  simplicity. 


270  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

mer,  I  feel  proud  of  liuman  energy  ;  we  see  in  him 
what  a  man  is  capable  of  accomplishing,  when  he  is 
resolved." 

Yoss,  also,  was  one  of  Perthes'  early  personal  ac- 
quaintances ;  and  on  tlie  day  after  his  arrival  he  went 
to  visit  liim,  anxious  to  know  his  manner  of  bearing' 
himself  in  liis  altered  circumstances.  "  Yoss  has  a 
healthy  look,"  he  writes,  "  and  what  was  decaying  in 
him  lias  passed  into  the  tough  ;  but  Ernestine  is  worse, 
and  does  not  look  as  if  she  would  live  long.  I  re- 
ceived a  kind  and  friendly  welcome  from  both,  and  a 
cordial  greeting  for  you.  The  old  man  took  me  into 
his  garden,  and  was  very  amiable  among  the  flowers. 
At  first  he  spoke  patriarchal  Luisisms^  about  God^s 
beautiful  nature,  about  flowers  and  plants,  old  times 
and  simple-hearted  men  ;  and  then,  suddenly,  at  the 
mention  of  Fouque's  name,  gave  expression  to  a  spirit 
of  hatred  which  I  was  really  terrified  to  see  in  the  old 
man.  *  Ah  !'  he  exclaimed, '  that  Fouque,  who  has  mis- 
led the  whole  crew  of  booby  priests  and  aristocrats,  is 
seeking  to  make  Catholics  of  them,  as  he  has  done  of 
Stolberg  !'  He  next  inveighed  furiously  against  the 
worthless  spirit  of  the  Mecklenberghers  and  the  Hol- 
steiners  ;  then  attacked  Claudius,  and  said,  it  was  his 
intention  to  publish  an  edition  of  the  '  Wandsbeck 
Messenger,'  in  which  all  the  priestly  legends  should  be 
expunged,  which  he  said  had  been  the  suggestion  of 
the  dark  spirit  of  superstition.  I  was  silent  for  a 
while ;  but  to  this  last  sally  I  replied,  that  I,  on  the 
contrary,  was  thinking  of  publishing  a  new  edition  of 

o  Voss  had,  in  his  youth,  written  a  sentimental  Idyl,  called  "  Luisc.  ' 
Vide  p.  76. 


LETTERS   TO    CAROLINE.  27L 

Stolberg's  '  History  of  Religion/  to  the  extent  of  sev- 
eral thousand  copies,  believing  that  I  should  have 
cause  to  congratulate  myself  on  the  speculation,  not 
only  as  a  matter  of  business,  but  as  one  that  was  like- 
ly to  have  a  great  and  good  influence  throughout  the 
whole  of  Catholic  Germany.  Upon  this  the  old  man 
said,  that  he  had  read  nothing  of  Stolberg's  since  his 
apostas3\  I  then  endeavored  to  turn  the  conversation, 
for  I  do  not  willingly  speak  of  Catholics,  or  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  except  with  those  who  have  them- 
selves received  the  faith  of  Christ  in  all  humility. 
With  such  persons  we  can  contemplate,  from  a  firm 
and  intelligible  stand-point,  the  various  forms  in  which 
the  spirit  of  Christianity  has  expressed  itself;  but 
with  a  man  who  is  ever  revolving  in  the  circle  of 
his  own  self-constructed  religious  system,  it  is  noth- 
ing but  idle  or  passionate  disputation.  After  dinner, 
Yoss  went  with  me  alone  into  the  garden  ;  he  hastily 
ran  over  a  string  of  names,  adding  to  each  some  epi- 
thet, such  as  *  sneaking  fellow,  mischief-making  trai- 
tor, scoundrel,'  &c.  At  last,  I  got  up  and  ran  away.  I 
would  not  answer  the  worthy  old  man  as  he  deserve.d, 
and  I  felt  that  I  ought  not  to  be  silent.  Believe  me,  in 
spite  of  all  the  domestic  spirit  and  garden  joys  that  are 
visible  here,  there  reigns  in  this  house  a  spirit  of  hatred 
that  has  surprised  and  deeply  pained  me." 

It  was  not  alone  in  Voss's  house  that  Perthes  ob- 
served the  presence  of  a  prevailing  spirit  of  bitter- 
ness, which,  manifesting  itself  as  it  did  chiefly  in  polit- 
ical questions,  caused  him  deep  anxiety  for  the  future. 
"  It  is  as  if  scales  had  fallen  from  my  eyes,"  he  says  ; 
I  was  in  no  wise  prepared  for  such  scenes.  Here, 
when,  during  the  reign  of  Napoleon,  circumstances 


272  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

might  have  justified  some  exhibition  of  political  ha- 
tred, it  was  scarcely  known,  and  now  it  rages  with 
wildest  fury  against  their  own  government.  For  the 
first  time,  I  understand  much  that  I  heard  and  over- 
heard at  Frankfort. 

"  In  an  hour  we  leave  for  Stuttgart.  I  should  have 
remained  here  some  days  longer,  for  one  can  hardly 
see  the  game  these  men  are  playing  so  well  elsewhere  : 
but  notwithstanding  all  this  wonderful  beauty  of  scen- 
ery, I  am  oppressed  and  dispirited.  There  are  few 
here  who  recognize  in  their  lives,  fewer  still  in  their 
words,  the  mystery  of  love  in  its  uniting  and  saving 
energy,  the  point  to  which  the  inexhaustible  goodness 
of  God  is  ever  leading  us  back.  The  moral  nature 
becomes  rank  through  license,  and  the  spirit  hardened  ; 
and  although  there  are  many  who  have  escaped  the 
snares  of  sensuality,  there  are  few  who  have  been  de- 
livered from  those  of  pride.  Here,  in  this  earthly 
paradise,  grief  and  dejection  have  overtaken 'me.  To- 
night we  put  up  at  Heilbronn." 

From  Stuttgart,  where  he  remained  from  the  18th 
to  the  20th  of  August,  Perthes  continues  his  narative  : 
— "  I  passed  a  night  of  the  wildest  fever-fancies  at 
Heilbronn  ;  body  and  mind  were  both  over-excited  by 
personal  fatigue,  by  speaking  and  hearing,  and  the  ex- 
perience gained  at  Heidelberg  had  impressed  me  deep- 
ly. But  the  fresh  and  glorious  morning  chased  away 
the  spectres  of  the  night,  and,  refreshed  in  spirit,  we 
drove  through  the  valley  of  the  Neckar,  a  valley  so 
highly  cultivated,  that  the  artisan  can  scarcely  find  a 
spot  to  settle  in  undisturbed.  I  heard  of  nothing  but 
the  apportioning  of  lands,  and  emigration.  We  reached 
Stuttgart  at  noon.     Cotta  drove  us  to  see  the  fine  en- 


PERTHES'   LETTERS   TO    CAROLINE.  273 

virons,  and  with  this  remarkable  man,  in  whom  the 
greatest  contradictions  meet,  I  passed  the  evening. 
On  Sunday  morning  I  called  on  the  Medical-councillor 
Jager — he  was  absent  ;  then  on  the  Russian  Ambassa- 
dor, Von  Strtive — gone  to  church  ;  to  Von  Wangen- 
heim— not  at  home  ;  then  to  the  Parade— which  luas 
at  home.  I  dined  at  Cotta's  with  a  small  circle  of 
very  interesting  men,  among  whom  was  Wangenheim, 
whom  I  had  known  long  ago  at  Gotha,  as  a  wild 
youth.  His  imposing  person,  all  covered  witli  decora- 
tions, offers  a  singular  contrast  to  his  careless  manner  of 
presenting  himself.  Full  of  talent,  he  is  apt  to  be  over- 
taken in  conversation  by  flights  of  fancy,  and  to  hurry 
his  hearer  with  him  over  hill  and  dale  up  to  the  clouds 
of  speculation,  and  down  into  the  depths  of  human  na- 
ture. In  his  place,  I  should  not  liave  spoken  so  freely  as 
he  did  of  public  affairs.  Yesterday  afternoon  and  this 
morning  I  spent  in  calling  on  many  distinguished  peo- 
ple. This  country  is  truly  in  an  extraordinary  and 
perilous  situation..  Its  princes  are  possessed  of  a 
kind  of  heathen  greatness — wicked  and  powerful ;  just 
such  as  men  in  the  olden  times  required  as  rulers,  in 
order  to  keep  them  quiet.  As  to  personal  affection 
for  the  king,  that  is  not  to  be  thought  of.  A  Stutt- 
garder  said  to  me  with  evident  pride,  *  Our  princes 
have  always  been  wicked  fellows,  and  have  deserved 
to  occupy  even  higher  thrones.'  The  people  of  Wiir- 
temberg  are  proud  of  the  vastness  of  their  palaces,  the 
magnificence  of  their  gardens,  the  beauty  of  their  the- 
atre, and  of  their  model  highways.  They  are  proud 
that  their  king  should  have  better  horses  and  dogs 
than  any  other  king  ;  that  he  is  the  best  shot  known, 
and  that,  what  he  wills,  he  accomplishes  in  spite  of  any 
12* 


274  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

amount  of  opposition  from  his  subjects.  Every  Stutt- 
garder  knows,  and  makes  no  secret  of  it,  that  the  wild- 
est beast  in  the  whole  menagerie  of  kings  has  fallen  to 
his  share.  Freedom  of  speech  is  at  the  same  time  so 
unlimited,  that  I  could  not  write  the  half  of  what  was 
told  me  openly  close  under  the  palace  windows.  Or- 
der reigns  supreme  ;  the  ministers  appear  to  be  honor- 
able men,  and  are  so  situated  as  to  be  kept  out  of  the 
range  of  popular  hatred,  the  burden  of  which  the  king 
takes  pleasure  in  keeping  to  himself,  by  a  series  of  of- 
fensive and  tyrannical  enactments.  In  vigorous  and 
determined  opposition  to  this  powerful  prince,  stand 
the  Constitutionalists,  regarding  the  voice  of  the  coun- 
try as  the  voice  of  God,  and  looking  neither  to  right 
nor  left ;  while  between  them,  the  world,  with  its  self- 
ishness, its  corrupt  principles,  and  its  interested  views, 
plays  a  cunning  and  wicked  game." 


XXV. 

ttntn  t0  MBittlittyiil,— 1816, 


CORRESPONDENCE  CONTINUED. 


N  the  20th  of  August,  Perthes  left  Stuttgart, 
and  travelled  by  way  of  Esslingen,  Geislingen, 
and  Uhn,  to  Augsburg.  In  spite  of  the  hurried 
journey,  he  found  abundance  of  material  for 
observation  among  a  country  and  a  people, 
which,  to  a  North  German,  were  foreign. 
He  halted  for  a  few  days  at  Augsburg, 
attracted  by  the  social  life  of  this  old,  art-loving, 
imperial  city. 

"  On  the  21st,  at  noon,"  he  writes  to  Caroline,  "  we 
drove  to  the  magnificent  hotel  of  the  Three  Moors, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  afternoon  I  visited  several 
book  and  map-sellers,  and  have  wearied  myself  yester- 
day and  to-day  with  walking  and  listening.  Augsburg 
is  a  large  and  handsome  city,  but  it  does  not  impress 
one  with  the  idea  of  antiquity.  There  is  not  a  single 
public  building,  and  but  few  private  houses,  that  date 
from  our  great  architectural  era.  Centuries  of  prosr 
perity  have  enabled  the  inhabitants  to  reno.vate  their 
dwellings  according  to  the  fasliions  of  the  day.  It  is 
within  the  liou^es  and  in  the  mode  of  conducting, 
business  that  we  find  the  family  manners  and  customs 
of  ancient  artistic  Augsburg,     I  am  much  mistaken  if 

(275)         '        "■^"  ' 


276  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

we  are  not  here  among  a  spirited  and  determined  popu- 
lation, hard  to  bend  or  to  break  :  we  find  here  'originals ' 
in  character  and  even  wild  eccentricities.  At  the 
present  time,  a  vast  traffic  is  carried  on,  and  many 
factories  are  in  full  operation  ;  while  works  of  art  in 
silver  and  other  materials  are  still  objects  of  desire 
with  the  burghers  ;  and  yet  there  are  tokens  of  decay. 
Such  a  life,  so  prodigal  of  labor,  energy,  and  invention, 
can  only  be  sustained  in  these  days  by  nien  possessed 
of  civil  and  political  freedom.  The  good  people  of 
Augsburg  firmly  believe  that,  on  his  accession,  the 
Crown  Prince  will  again  declare  their  city  and 
Nuremburg  to  be  free  cities."  "  The  present  state  of 
the  literary  traffic  here,"  he  says  in  another  letter,  "  is 
really  extraordinary,  and  it  has  been  at  the  expense  of 
much  labor  and  fatigue  that  I  have  got  a  glimpse  o-f  it. 
I  shall  write  the  details  to  Besser." 

The  journey  from  Augsburg  to  Munich  offered  little 
that  was  attractive  in  natural  scenery  ;  but  the  Sunday 
brought  out  the  peasants  in  all  the  picturesque  variety 
of  their  singular  but  grotesque  costume,  richly  adorned 
with  silver  lace,  buttons,  and  coins.  "  They  may  be 
at  once  distinguished  from  the  Swabians,"  wrote  Perthes. 
"  These  are  stout,  cheerful  fellows,  well-fed,  and 
vigorous  ;  in  Swabia,  the  men  have  a  downcast,  op- 
pressed look,  and  are  often  thin,  sallow,  and  ill- 
shaped." 

On  the  25th  of  August,  he  reached  Munich,  and 
went  straight  to  Jacobi.  "  He  received  us  as  if  we 
had  been  his  chil.lren,  and  with  the  feelings  of  a  child 
I  embraced  the  dear  old  man.  In  appearance  he  is 
little  altered,  and  his  health  is  quite  as  good  as  can  be 
expected  at  bis  age,  especially  for  one  so  delicately 


RETURN   TO    HAMBURGH.  277 

organized,  and  of  so  susceptible  a  temperament.  In 
conversation,  when  only  two  or  three  are  present,  there 
is  the  same  power  as  ever,  the  same  clearness  and 
readiness  of  mind,  but  for  general  society  he  is  dead  ; 
being  somewhat  deaf,  he  does  not  follow  a  conversa- 
tion quickly.  If  possible,  he  is  even  more  affectionate 
and  cordial  than  ever  ;  and  he  bears  his  altered  and 
now  narrow  circumstances  with  the  composure  of  a 
wise  man  ;  it  was  only  when  he  referred  to  the  pension 
that  he  had  lately  been  obliged  to  ask  of  the  king  for 
his  sisters  that  his  voice  failed,  and  the  tears  came  into 
his  eyes.  He  still  takes  the  liveliest  interest  in  public 
affairs,  and  carefully  watches  the  progress  of  events. 
He  listened  to  my  account  of  the  death  of  his  friend 
(Claudius)  at  Hamburgh,  and  seems  to  dwell  with 
interest  and  thoughtfulness  on  this  last  event  in  human 
life,  but  yet  without  seeing  further  into  Christianity 
than  he  did  ten  years  ago." 

"  I  have  seen  few  things  in  Munich,  because  I  felt 
that  my  time  belonged  to  Jacobi ;  but  the  Picture 
Gallery  has  great  attractions.  For  some  time  I  was 
perplexed,  till  from  the  mass  of  the  great  and  beautiful, 
I  was  able  to  fix  on  something  definite  :  the  contrasts 
are  too  strong.  With  wonderful  power  has  Rubens 
penetrated  into  the  dark  side  of  human  nature,  and 
with  equal  power  has  he  exhibited  it.  His  drunken 
Silenus  is  a  horrible  compound  of  devil  and  sow  ;  the 
woman  just  falling  into  hell,  and  still  reeking  with  lust 
and  passion — the  torments  of  the  damned  portrayed  in 
her  countenance — is  not  less  liorrible  than  the  principal 
figure  in  the  same  picture,  a  bloated  glutton.  Gluttony 
and  the  dread  of  future  hunger  are  both  depicted  in  his 
face,  the  latter  somewhat  diminished  by  the  conscious- 


278  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

ness  of  having  a  resource  for  a  while  in  his  own  fat. 
The  evil  that  is  in  man  is  as  truly  represented  by  Ru- 
bens as  a  man's  heavenward  aspirations  and  pure 
affections  are  by  Guido  Reni  and  Raphael.  Man  is  in 
both  :  we  feel,  and  are  conscious  of  the  contradiction 
that  we  carry  within  us,  at  other  times  and  in  other 
places,  but  here  we  see  it  in  pictures — it  becomes 
visible  to  itself.  It  was  strange  to  see  again  the 
pictures  that  were  in  the  former  Diisseldorf  Gallery, 
and  which  I  had  helped  Tischbein  to  take,  one  by  one, 
out  of  a  chest  in  a  barn  at  Gliickstadt." 

"  Matthias  shall  have  special  thanks  to-day,"  replies 
Caroline,  "  for  his  descriptions  of  nature,  which  really 
did  me  good,  after  you  had  frightened  me  with  Rubens' 
dreadful  picture.  I  hold  it  to  be  sinful  and  wrong  to 
pervert  such  a  divine  gift  as  Rubens  had  received  to 
such  corrupt  and  monstrous  uses.  I  rejoice  over  one 
who  has  passed  through  life  without  having  known, 
seen,  imagined,  or  been  susceptible  of  such  abomina- 
tions. How  dare  a  man,  by  the  medium  of  pictures, 
realize  to  better  and  purer  souls,  who  dream  not  of 
them,  things  which  are  the  disgrace  and  brand  of  hu- 
manity ?  In  a  word,  I  hate  such  pictures,  in  spite  of 
all  the  art  with  which  they  may  be  painted.  It  is  a 
black  art.  Matthias  should  not  paint  such  pictures  if 
he  could  ;  I  glory  in  God's  work, — Nature  ;  she  comes 
from  Him  and  leads  to  Him,  and  happy  is  he  who  has 
it  in  his  power  to  look  upon  these  works  as  you  have 
done.  Dear  Matthias,  fill  your  soul  with  such  pictures, 
and  let  them  live  there  till  you  have  learned  to  draw 
nigh  to  your  Creator  in  another  and  higher  way  : 
bring  back  to  me  all  that  you  can  apprehend  and  can 
communicate — I  long  for  it." 


RETURN   TO   HAMBURGH.  279 

The  position  of  Bavaria,  as  a  state,  appeared  dark 
indeed,  as  Perthes  contemplated  it,  during  his  visit  to 
Munich,  and  he  says, — "  What  political  form  Bavaria 
may  ultimately  assume,  no  one  here  seems  to  have  any 
idea.  As  to  any  feeling  for  a  common  Germany,  or 
for  national  union,  it  is  wholly  unknown  here  ;  but  if 
a  German  spirit  were  awakened,  the  Bavarians  would 
be  one  of  our  bravest,  most  powerful,  and  loyal  races. 
All  is  uncertainty  as  regards  the  internal  policy.  The 
king  is  cordially  loved  as  a  true,  warm-hearted  citizen, 
but  he  will  not  hear  of  representative  chambers  or 
constitutions,  and  has  said  that  whoever  speaks  of  them 
attacks  the  throne."  "  I  have  again  spent  some  hours 
with  Jacobi,*'  wrote  Perthes  immediately  before  his 
departure  from  Munich  ;  "  he  took  me  into  his  room 
alone,  and  spoke  of  many  things,  and  his  voice  was 
often  tremulous  :  he  was  always  beginning  the  conver- 
sation afresh,  and  I  could  see  plainly  that  he  dreaded 
the  parting  moment.  He  felt,  as  I  did,  that  in  this 
life  we  shall  never  meet  again." 

And  now  that  Perthes  was  entering  on  the  hitherto 
unknown  world  of  the  Alps,  he  forgot  kingdoms,  litera- 
ture, and  the  book-trade,  and  surrendered  himself  with 
all  the  freshness  and  joy  which  were  peculiar  to  him, 
to  the  overpowering  impressions  of  that  glorious  region. 
He  passed  some  days  at  Salzburg,  and  thence  visited 
Berchtoldsgaden,  the  Konigsee,  the  Eiscapelle,  and  the 
Salt-works  of  Hallein.  In  spite  of  these  demands  on 
his  physical  strength,  he  preserved  sufficient  elasticity 
of  spirit  to  write  to  Caroline  late  in  the  evening,  and 
to  convey  to  her  living  and  graphic  pictures  of  the 
sublime  Alpine  world. 

But  the  human  element  in  man  never,  even  amid  such 


280  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

scenery,  lost  its  attractive  and  abiding  interest  for 
Perthes, — "  I  have,"  he  says,  "  seen  many  men,  and 
men  of  all  kinds,  in  my  long  journey  from  Hamburgh 
hither  ;  and  my  love  for  man  is  in  nowise  diminished. 
I  have  found  far  more  intelligence,  ability,  and  upright- 
ness, and  far  less  outward  immorality  than  I  expected. 
If  only  we  meet  men  with  confidence,  and  are  not  re- 
pelled by  dijBferences  of  manner,  and  peculiar  modes  of 
viewing  tilings,  we  everywhere  feel  how  nearly  related 
the  individuals  of  our  race  are  to  one  another.  I  have 
felt  in  some  degree  at  home  even  in  the  rigidly  Catholic 
countries,  and  have  seen  much  that  is  attractive  there. 
How  touching,  for  instance,  was  it  to  see  in  one  of  the 
churches  at  Augsburg,  the  childlike  thought  of  a  whole 
row  of  little  chapels,  eacli  devoted  to  special  prayers, 
suited  to  dififerent  circumstances, — first  a  marriage 
chapel,  where,  under  garlands  and  orange-flowers, 
bride  and  bridegroom  come  to  be  united  ;  then  a  chapel 
to  the  Virgin  Mother,  to  entreat  her  blessing  on  the 
marriage  ;  a  third,  in  wdiich  maidens  pray  for  good 
husbands  ;  and  a  fourth  for  parents  whose  darlings  are 
sick  or  dying.  In  the  Salzburg  district  you  see  a  cru- 
cifix at  the  summit  of  every  declivity,  and  a  crucifix  or 
an  image  of  the  Virgin  on  every  bridge  ;  and  the 
driver  never  passes  any  of  these  symbols  without  a 
grateful  reverence  and  a  friendly  look.  After  all,  the 
people  of  Cologne  were  not  far  wrong  when  they  talked 
about  the  Sunday-God  of  the  Protestants  and  the 
family-God  of  the  Catholics,  to  whom  they  can  resort 
in  work  days,  and  in  all  the  petty  circumstances  of 
life." 

To  this  Caroline  replied, — "The  little  chapels  for 
prayer  interested  me,  but,  nevertheless,  you  are  very 


RETURN    TO    HAMBURGH.  281 

unjust  to  Protestantism,  dear  Perthes.  I  can  tell  you, 
as  before  God,  that  /  have  many  little  chapels  in  my 
heart,  to  luhich  I  resort  in  time  of  need ^  although  not  so 
fervently  or  so  purely  as  I  ought,  and  as  I  could  wish. 
At  present,  the  chapel  of  thank-offering  takes  up  most 
of  my  time,  and  you  must  retract  what  you  said  of  the 
Catholics  being  more  familiar  with  God  than  we,  and 
of  our  making  a  rush  to  Him  only  on  Sundays." 

The  character  of  the  South  German,  as  he  saw  it  at 
Salzburg,  struck  Perthes  forcibly.  "  At  the  tables-d'hdte" 
he  says,  '*  I  met  chiefly  officers  and  employes.  Every- 
where I  found  good  common  sense,  expressing  itself 
clearly  and  decidedly  on  all  the  circumstances  of  life, 
without  exaggeration  and  without  losing  itself  in  vague 
generalities.  Learned  or  book-borrowed  phraseology 
you  never  hear.  Cheerfulness  and  gayety  prevail  un- 
checked. The  different  dialects,  with  their  simple 
hearty  accents,  suit  all  this.  To  many  travellers  this 
appears  tiresome,  unpolished,  and  insipid  ;  some,  in 
the  pride  of  their  refinement,  have  thought  themselves 
justified  in  animadverting  on  tliis  simplicity  of  man- 
ners, and  have,  for  the  most  part,  been  answered  as 
they  deserved.  I  have  often  found  the  people  draw 
back  suspiciously  from  the  North  German,  leaving  him 
to  liimself,  as  though  all  belonged  to  the  class  of  com- 
mercial travellers,  with  whom  they  are  most  familiar, 
and  who  are  indeed  often  very  ignorant,  and  unblush- 
ingly  immoral  in  their  talk.  For  myself,  I  have  every- 
where found  the  Soutli  German  easy  of  access.  If  you 
ask  about  the  inner  man,  I  must  say  that,  here  as  else- 
where^  we  find  self-sufficiency  and  arrogance  ;  and  here 
as  elsewhere,  one  is  forced  to  admire  the  wisdom  that 
planned  the  world,  and  is  ever  renewing  it  by  means 


282  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

of  children,  and  the  love  they  bring  with  them  ;  and 
restoring  men  when  their  faith  in  their  own  wisdom  is 
at  the  strongest  to  the  simplicity  of  childhood,  and 
placing  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage  in  the  middle. 
Here  we  walked  for  a  while  in  the  churcliyard,  and 
read  the  inscriptions.  They  are,  in  general,  very  sin- 
gular, and  many  of  them  provoke  a  smile  ;  but  there 
are  no  flowery,  fantastic,  or  sentimental  phrases,  and 
no  heathen  philosophy  ;  all  is  from  the  heart,  and  ex- 
pressive of  a  firm  faith  in  the  mercy  of  God.  There  is 
much  love  and  good-will  in  our  people,  and  where  the 
materials  are  still,  or  I  should  rather  say,  already  so 
good,  the  right  political  form  will  surely  not  be  long 
wanting,  if  we  would  but  try  to  work  in  existing  forms, 
however  unfitted  they  may  be,  and — satisfied  witli  a 
gradual  development — not  insist  on  having  everything 
ready-made." 

It  was  with  no  small  regret  that,  on  the  3d  of  Sep- 
tember, Perthes  took  leave  of  the  Alps.  "  We  travel- 
led through  a  fine  and  pleasing  district,  but  our  hearts 
and  minds  were  closed,  and,  like  one  who  sighs  for  his 
home,  we  often  turned  to  look  for  the  splendor  we  had 
left  behind,  till  at  length  even  the  last  of  the  Salzburg 
hills  had  vanished  from  our  eyes.  In  the  evening  we 
passed  Neumark  and  Yocklabruck,  and  at  night  reached 
the  Austrian  frontier,  and  were  harshly  wakened  from 
our  soft  slumbers  by  the  oflScials  on  duty.  The  officer, 
roused  out  of  his  sleep,  asked  sternly,  '  is  the  business 
then  so  urgent  that  people  are  obliged  to  travel  by 
night  ?  "  But  on  my  replying  politely  that  the  explana- 
tion of  my  business  would  only  detain  liim  the  longer 
from  his  bed,  he  looked  at  the  passport,  and  muttered, 
*  Drive  on — but  at  Lambach  you  must  stop  for  the 


RETURN   TO    HAMBURGH.  28B 

night/  In  some  anxiety  as  to  the  reception  that  might 
await  us,  we  drove  on,  and  stopped  at  Lambach,  in 
front  of  a  large  building.  The  postilion  unharnessed 
his  horses,  called  out,  '  This  is  the  custom-house,'  and 
rode  away.  The  question  now  was,  whether  we  should 
patiently  wait  for  day-break  in  our  carriage,  or  knock 
up  the  custom-house  authorities.  At  last  I  took  cour- 
age and  knocked,  and  soon  an  old  soldier,  with  a  lan- 
tern in  his  hand,  came  out,  and  said,  '  Follow  me.'  He 
brought  me  into  a  large  hall,  where  there  were  at  least 
twenty  desks,  went  into  a  side-room  and  returned  im- 
mediately, bringing  two  large  wax-candles,  and  fol- 
lowed by  a  man  of  very  gentlemanly  appearance,  in 
snow-white  under  garments,  who  very  politely  asked 
to  see  my  papers.  The  soldier  again  said,  '  Follow 
me.'  We  went  to  the  carriage,  and  he  searched  the 
pockets, — '  Cards,  maps,  and  schnapps,  the  rest  only 
dirty  linen.'  For  the  third  time  the  old  man  said, 
*  Follow  me  ;'  and  reported  at  the  bureau,  '  The  gen- 
tlemen have  all  in  order.'  Thus  satisfied,  the  officer 
bowed,  returned  my  papers,  said,  'All  right,'  and  dis- 
appeared. The  old  soldier  procured  horses,  took  a 
two-guilder  token,  and  at  the  end  of  an  hour  we  drove 
free  from  these  mighty  perils." 

Without  further  delay  they  travelled  through  Wels, 
Amstetten,  and  Molk,  to  Vienna,  wliere  they  arrived 
on  the  5th  of  September. 

"  I  soon  felt  quite  at  home  here,"  says  Perthes  in  his 
first  letter.  "  In  the  midst  of  so  many  people  and  of 
so  much  activity,  a  man  soon  finds  freedom  of  life  and 
action  for  himself.  I  feel  uncomfortable  and  ill  at 
ease  only  in  a  place  where  I  am  conscious  of  being 
observed,  and  where  I  am  liable  to  come  in  contact 


284  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

with  individuals  of  peculiar  and  different  characters, 
who  have  as  yet  given  no  intimation  whetlier  they  are 
friendly  or  hostile — however,  this  does  not  apply  to 
Vienna.  Here  the  stranger  sees  neither  officers,  orders, 
signs  of  rank,  nor  official  costume  in  the  streets  or 
public  walks — at  the  tables-dliote,  or  in  the  theatres. 
He  sees  no  individuals^  but  everywhere  Viennese,  all 
seeming  to  be  on  equal  terms,  and  none  allowing  him- 
self to  be  disturbed  in  his  ways  and  enjoyments  by  a 
third  party,  or  even  recognizing  the  existence  of  such 
a  third  party.  In  Vienna  the  stranger  observes  only 
life  and  pleasure,  not  the  living  and  the  pleasure-lov- 
ing ;  all  is  freedom  and  equality,  as  these  are  to  be 
found  only  in  great  cities.'' 

In  the  Austrian  capital  there  was  so  much  to  be  seen 
and  done,  so  many  persons  to  be  visited,  that  the  time 
till  late  at  night  was  fully  occupied,  and  apart  from 
the  fear  of  committing  everything  to  paper  in  Vienna, 
it  was  impossible  for  Perthes  to  record  the  impressions 
received  there,  and  to  continue  his  journal-like  letters 
to  Caroline — a  jotting  down  of  names  was,  in  general, 
all  that  lie  could  find  time  for.  Even  of  his  audience 
of  the  Archduke  John,  his  dinners  with  Gentz,  his  visit 
to  Collin,  where  he  saw  the  young  Napoleon,  and  of 
his  frequent  meetings  with  Hammer,  Baron  Stahel, 
Stift,  and  other  eminent  men,  we  find  mere  passing 
notices,  but  the  general  impression  made  on  him  by 
Vienna  life  appears  in  all  his  letters.  Many  questions 
were  there  debated,  on  which  Perthes  was  already 
well  informed,  but  the  religious  movements  of  a  small, 
yet  decidedly  Catholic  circle  in  Vienna,  touched  and 
interested  him  deeply. 

"  Pilat,"  he  writes  to  Caroline,  "  is  a  talented  and 


RETURN   TO    HAMBURGH.  285 

imaginative  man  ;  but  he  is  also  a  man  of  strong  pas- 
sions. His  bearing  and  manner  are  remarkable.  He 
works  daily  with  Prince  Metternich,  who  has  given 
liim  the  Austrian  Observatory  for  his  services.  Diplo- 
matic he  undoubtedly  is,  but  I  believe  him  to  be  honest, 
and  he  certainly  has  at  heart  the  interests  of  religion, 
and  of  what,  as  a  Roman  Catholic,  he  regards  as  ap- 
pertaining to  religion.  Towards  me  he  has  really  be- 
haved like  a  friend.  Our  old  acquaintance  Klinkow- 
strom  I  also  believe  to  be  an  honest  man,  in  spite  of 
the  opinion  of  some." 

Perthes,  having  expressed  a  wish  to  hear  a  good 
genuine  Catholic  preacher,  was  recommended  by  Pilat 
and  Klinkowstrom  to  Father  Pascal,  a  Franciscan. 
*'  To-day,"  he  writes,  "  was  the  festival  of  the  Saluta- 
tion, a  great  day  for  a  church  boasting  the  possession 
of  a  miraculous  picture  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  The  high 
altar  was  splendidly  lighted,  the  church  crowded. 
Behind  the  pulpit  is  a  gallery,  some  paces  long  ;  in  this 
the  father  walked  up  and  down,  laid  aside  his  sack- 
cloth, &c.,  and  made  himself  quite  at  home.  His  voice 
and  gesticulations  are  powerful  and  violent,  his  idiom 
is  that  of  the  common  Austrian  dialect.  We  were  re- 
minded of  everything  from  Abraham  to  Sancta  Clara, 
whether  we  would  or  not.  He  had  taken  the  power 
and  graciousness  of  the  Virgin  as  the  subject  of  his 
discourse.  Two-thirds  of  it  were  directed  against  the 
prevailing  corruption  of  morals,  one-third  against 
heretics,  that  is  to  say,  lieretics  within  the  Church,  for 
witli  those  without  the  father  declared  he  was  in  that 
place  no  way  concerned.  The  comparison  of  the  Vir- 
gin bearing  the  spiritual  world  within  her,  with  the 
ark  of  Noali  containing  all  the  beasts,  was  clever,  but 


286  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

far  from  delicate  in  the  details.  The  pictures  of  fam- 
ine and  its  accompaniments,  disease  and  crime,  as 
similitudes  of  a  famine-stricken,  unbelieving  heart, 
Avere  very  good,  and  the  concluding  prayer  was  admi- 
rable. When  at  every  fresh  petition  the  father,  turn- 
ing himself  towards  the  miraculous  picture,  devoutly 
supplicated  the  Virgin,  people  could  not  fail  to  be 
affected,  and  overlooked  the  comic  element.  On  the 
whole,  it  was  an  able  discourse,  and  effective." 

But  the  interview  with  Father  Hoffbauer  of  the  Re- 
demptorists,  to  whom  his  attention  had  long  been  di- 
rected, had  greater  interest  for  Perthes.  "  To-day,"  he 
writes  on  the  18th  of  September,  "after  many  ineffec- 
tual attempts,  I  succeeded  in  meeting  Father  Hoffbauer. 
I  found  him  in  a  large  gloomy  saloon,  whose  very 
windows  were  converted  into  small  latticed  chambers, 
within  which  young  ecclesiastics  were  sitting,  some 
reading,  some  writing.  During  my  visit  one  of  them 
came  forward,  and  took  a  slice  of  bread  and  butter 
out  of  a  safe  attached  to  one  of  the  pillars.  Hoffbauer 
seated  himself  by  me  in  the  centre  of  the  room  ;  he  is 
over  seventy,  and  small  of  stature,  but  vigorous  and 
smart.  He  has  not  the  usual  downcast  look  of  a 
Catholic  priest :  his  eye  is  full  of  fire,  and  his  glance 
keen  and  steady,  with  great  variety  of  expression  ;  yet 
withal  there  is  a  repose  of  countenance  that  one  can 
only  call  heavenly.  Hoffbauer  began  tlie  conversation 
with  great  politeness,  by  speaking  of  common  friends  ; 
then,  of  my  youth  and  manner  of  education.  From 
Claudius  he  passed  to  F.  L.  Stolberg  and  his  joining 
the  Catholic  Church.  He  soon  won  my  heart,  and  I- 
talked  quite  freely  of  Stolberg  and  his  connexion  with 
the  Princess  Gallitzin,  whom  I  spoke  of  as  my  motherly 


RETUEX    TO    HAMBURGH.  287 

friend,  and  said,  that  considering  Stolberg's  peculiar 
temperament,  and  the  state  of  the  Protestant  Church 
at  the  time  he  left  it,  with  reference  both  to  doctrine 
and  practice,  I  regarded  this  step  not  only  as  natural 
and  intelligible,  but  almost  as  inevitable.  When,  how- 
ever, I  perceived  the  impression  that  my  words  had 
made,  and  found  that  they  were  received  as  liaving  im- 
mediate reference  to  my  own  position,  I  immediately 
added,  in  order  to  set  the  worthy  old  man  right,  'Had 
I  been  born  and  brought  up  in  the  Catholic  Church,  I 
should  have  remained  in  it ;  or  were  I  now  to  be 
transplanted  to  some  land  where  there  is  no  Protestant 
congregation,  I  should,  if  obliged  to  remain  there,  join 
the  Catholics ;  and  even,  in  the  event  of  the  present  Prot- 
estant Neology  getting  the  upper  hand,  and  becoming 
generally  acknowledged  in  the  Protestant  congrega- 
tions, I  would,  in  order  to  secure  Christian  communion 
for  my  children,  follow  Stolberg^s  example.  But  this, 
I  said,  will  never  happen,  and  such  a  step  is  nowise 
necessary  for  the  salvation  of  my  own  soul,  inasmuch 
as  consciousness  of  sin,  the  necessity  and  certainty  of 
redemption  through  Jesus  Christ,  humility,  faith,  and 
walking  with  God,  are  entirely  independent  of  adhe- 
sion to  the  Catholic  Church  ;  while  the  passing  over 
of  individual  believers  from  one  church  to  another,  ex- 
cept in  peculiar  circumstances,  might  be  an  anticipa- 
tion of  the  Lord's  purposes,  and  an  obstacle  to  the 
future  union  of  all  Christians  as  one  flock.  The  Cath- 
olic Church  has  already  given  way  in  many  matters 
of  form  ;  the  Protestants  will  also  have  much  to  re- 
tract, and  the  course  of  time  must  and  will  unite  them 
again.'  While  I  was  speaking,  Hoffbauer  regarded  me 
steadily  but  calmly,  then  grasped  my  hand,  and  said, 


288  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

*  I,  too,  believe  m  an  invisible  churcli.  I  will  pray  foi 
you,  that  you  fall  not  into  temptation.  And  now  lei 
us  talk  on  without  disturbino:  the  explanation  which 
you  have  just  given.'  We  then  spoke  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, and  Hoffbauer  said,  '  Since  I  have  been  enabled 
as  Apostolic  Nuncio,  to  compare  the  religious  position 
of  the  Catholics  in  Poland  with  that  of  the  Protest- 
ants in  Germany,  I  am  convinced  that  the  apostasy 
from  the  Church  arose  from  the  need  which  the  Ger- 
mans felt,  and  still  feel,  of  genuine  piety.  The  Refor- 
mation was  propagated  and  upheld  not  by  heretics  and 
philosophers,  but  by  men  who  were  seeking  a  religion 
for  the  heart.  I  have  said  this  at  Rome  to  the  Pope 
and  Cardinals,  but  they  would  not  believe  me,  and 
will  have  it  that  it  was  enmity  to  all  religion  of  what- 
soever kind  that  brought  about  the  Reformation.' 
Hoffbauer  then  listened  to  much  that  I  had  to  tell  him 
about  the  religious  and  ecclesiastical  condition  of 
North  Germany,  and,  on  my  departure,  the  gentle  and 
pious  old  man  extended  his  hand  to  me  with  his  bless- 
ing." 

A  young  Catholic  priest,  named  Horni,  who,  on  the 
death  of  Claudius,  had  written  to  Perthes  a  letter  full 
of  respect  and  sympathy,  made,  indeed,  a  different  but 
not  less  interesting  impression.  "This  morning,"  he 
says  to  Caroline,  "  a  young  man  in  the  dress  of  an 
ecclesiastic  entered  my  room,  and  approached  me 
with  great  respect.  It  was  Horni,  whose  letter  written 
on  the  occasion  of  your  father's  death  you  will  remem- 
ber. He  entered  on  his  family  history,  explained  to 
me  his  personal  circumstances,  and  the  course  of  his 
education,  in  a  very  amiable  and  intelligent  way.  '  I 
too,  like  most  of  mv  associates,'  lie  said,  *  was  a  victim 


RETURN   TO    HAMBURGH.  289 

to  the  religious  free-tliiiiking  that  prevailed  in  Austria 
under  Joseph  the  Second  ;  but  my  truant  soul  was  led 
back  to  the  way  of  truth  and  grace  by  the  writings  of 
Claudius.  How  wonderfully  great  he  was !  In  the 
hottest  of  the  battle  waged  throughout  Germany,  Prot- 
estant as  well  as  Catholic,  against  all  revealed  re- 
ligion, he  clung  but  the  more  closely  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  when  all  the  so-called  philosophers  of 
Germany  were  perverted  by  the  prevailing  systems,  he 
remained  unmoved,  and  recognized  the  delusive  en- 
chantment, when  at  its  culminating  point,  as  what  it 
really  was — a  dazzling  nonentity.  His  wisdom  was, 
indeed,  too  little  like  that  of  this  world,  to  be  accepta- 
ble to  the  children  of  this  world.  His  contemporaries 
did  not  understand  his  lofty  simplicity,  and  esteemed  it 
lightly  ;  they  spent  their  energies  spinning  cob-webs, 
and  seeking  out  many  devices,  and  only  went  the 
farther  astray.  For  my  own  part,  I  shall  be  thankful 
as  long  as  I  live,  that  the  wisdom  of  the  single-minded 
Wandsbeck  Messenger  was  revealed  to  me  in  its  height 
and  its  depth.'  Horni  then  asked  me  for  further  par- 
ticulars of  your  father's  last  hours.  '  For  though/ 
said  he,  '  it  is  possible  that,  in  the  death-agony  Claudi- 
us may  not  have  had  the  power  of  expressing  what  the 
soul  experienced  in  prospect  of  approaching  union 
with  its  Friend  and  Redeemer,  I  believe  that  after 
such  a  uniform  and  singularly  Christian  life,  liis  death 
must  have  been  beautiful  and  Christian,  and  that  the 
consolation  poured  into  his  soul  by  the  Redeemer  must 
have  been  evident  to  the  happy  witnesses  of  his  pas- 
sage "  to  the  land  of  life  and  truth.'"  On  taking  leave 
he  asked  me  for  a  picture  of  Claudius.  *  It  does  a 
wrestling  man  good,'  he  said, '  to  be  surrounded  con- 
13 


^90  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Btantly  by  tried  wrestlers  ;  evil  thoughts  are  put  to 
flight  when  the  eye  falls  on  the  portrait  of  one  in 
whose  living  presence  one  would  have  blushed  to  own 
them.'  All  that  Horni  said  bore  the  impress  of  truth 
and  of  pious  conviction.  The  intelligence  with  which 
he  spoke  indicated  great  accomplishments  ;  his  manner 
of  speaking  is  fluent  and  pure,  such,  indeed,  as  you  sel- 
dom meet  with  here,  even  among  people  of  rank  and 
learning. 

Towards  the  end  of  September,  Perthes  had  brought 
to  a  close  the  arrangements  preparatory  to  entering 
into  literary  undertakings  in  Austria,  and  delighted 
with  the  fruitful  weeks,  and  the  confidence  that  he  had 
enjoyed  in  Vienna,  he  took  his  departure  from  that 
city  on  the  2 2d  of  the  month. 

After  a  hurried  journey  and  a  halt  of  four  days  in 
Nuremberg,  he  found  himself  on  the  morning  of  the  2d 
October  in  the  neighborhood  of  Blankenburg  in  the 
Thuringian  forest,  and  within  a  few  leagues  of  Schwarz- 
burg,  the  home  of  his  childhood.  The  heavy  rains  of 
the  last  month  had  swept  away  the  bridge  over  the 
forest-brook  between  the  village  of  Schwarza  and  the 
little  town  of  Blankenburg.  Perthes,  well  acquainted 
with  all  the  footpaths,  ordered  the  postilion  to  drive 
round  by  the  stone  bridge  while  he  with  his  son  walk- 
ed in  the  direction  of  the  paper-mill,  where  he  knew 
that  a  lofty  narrow  foot-bridge  was  thrown  over  the 
stream  ;  but  this  also  had  been  carried  away,  and  in 
its  place  two  trunks  of  trees  liad  been  laid  from  shore 
to  shore.  As  tliey  were  setting  foot  on  these,  a  by- 
stander asked  if  the  travellers  thought  it  safe  to  ven- 
ture to  cross  on  so  narrow  a  ledge.  They  went  for- 
ward, however,  without  hesitation,  both  having  risked 


RETURN   TO   HAMBURGH.  291 

far  more  perilous  paths  in  Salzburg.  The  Schwarza 
swollen  to  a  torrent  rushed  rapidly  beneath  them  : 
they  were  within  two  paces  of  the  opposite  shore,  when 
Matthias,  who  was  foremost,  called  out,  ''  Hold  me,  I 
am  falling  I "  Perthes  seized  the  falling  boy  by  tlie 
collar,  and  was  instandly  precipitated  with  him  into  the 
water.  He  soon  regained  his  feet,  but  both  were  again 
carried  away  by  the  impetuous  stream.  Once  Perthes 
rose  to  the  surface  and  cried,  "  Don't  lose  your  pres- 
ence of  mind,"  then  immediately  sank.  Wife  and  chil- 
dren flashed  across  his  mind,  and  then  he  lost  all  con- 
sciousness. Both  were  being  swept  along  towards  the 
wheel  of  a  saw-mill  about  two  hundred  paces  distant, 
but  when  within  a  few  yards  of  this,  Perthes  was  vig- 
orously grasped  by  the  left  arm,  and  slowly  dragged 
to  the  shore.  In  the  struggle  for  life  he  had  kept  con- 
vulsive hold  of  his  son,  by  the  right  hand,  and  now,  all 
unconsciously,  dragged  him  to  the  bank. 

The  stranger  who  had  warned  them  of  the  danger — 
Stahl,  the  owner  of  the  paper-mill — when  he  saw  them 
precipitated  into  the  torrent,  had  hastened  over  the 
narrow  bridge  and  along  the  bank  to  a  shallow  which 
extended  far  into  the  Schwarza.  Here,  up  to  the  mid- 
dle in  water,  he  waited,  seized  the  floating  body  as  it 
passed,  and,  while  expecting  to  save  only  one  from  cer- 
tain death,  found  he  had  saved  two.  In  the  warm  dry- 
ing-room of  the  paper-mill  the  rescued  father  and  son 
speedily  recovered  under  the  treatment  of  a  surgeon 
from  Rudolstadt,  who  happened  fortunately  to  be  on 
the  spot.  They  then  hastened  to  Schwarzburg,  where, 
well  heated  by  a  rapid  walk,  they  arrived  towards 
evening.  The  hand  of  death  had  been  upon  them,  but 
had  left  no  tokens  of  his  having  been  so  near. 


292  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Amid  the  scenes  of  his  childhood, — cherished  and 
affectionately  ministered  to,  as  if  he  had  been  still  a 
child,  by  the  old  Colonel,  the  old  Master  of  the  horse, 
and  the  old  Aunt  Caroline, — Perthes  rested  for  a  day 
or  two  after  the  excitement  of  the  two  preceding  months. 
Then,  after  a  short  stay  in  Gotha,  he  hastened  back 
to  Hamburgh  by  the  way  of  Gottingen  and  Hanover. 
He  reached  home  on  the  8th  of  October,  and  found 
Caroline,  whose  health  had  often  been  a  source  of  anx- 
iety to  him  during  his  absence,  stronger  than  he  had 
left  her. 


XXVI. 

ht  Summtt  0I  1819. 


HORTLY  before  the  return  of  Perthes  to  Ham- 
burgh, Besser  had  written  to  him:  "You 
went  out  to  see  Germany,  but,  as  it  appears 
to  me,  you  did  not  find  it."  This  was  un- 
doubtedly true.  On  the  Rhine,  in  Wiirtem- 
berg,  in  Bavaria,  and  in  Austria,  Perthes  had 
indeed  met  with  truly  German  manners  and 
modes  of  thought,  and  even  with  the  wish  for  a  great 
and  powerful  fatherland  ;  but  at  the  same  time,  he  had 
found  the  South  Germans  unwilling  to  diminish  the 
independence  and  integrity  of  Baden  and  Wiirtemberg, 
Bavaria  and  Austria,  which  yet  would  be  a  necessary 
consequence  of  their  becoming  parts  of  a  whole.  The 
North  German  adhered  as  tenaciously  as  the  South 
German  to  the  independence  of  his  own  particular 
State,  but  less  consciously,  and  arose  from  an  impres- 
sion, that  in  any  alliance  with  the  South,  the  prepon- 
derance would  still  be  his. 

Perthes  regarded  these  struggles  and  conflicts  as  the 
necessary  result  of  the  course  that  events  had  taken  in 
Germany.  He  says  in  a  letter  to  Jacobi,  "  Men  of  ac- 
tion are  never  far  from  men  of  thought ;  but  the  strug- 
gle is  violent  and  wide-spread  in  proportion  to  the 
rapidity  with  which  history  is  enacted.     Formerly  op- 

(•293) 


294  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

posite  movements  of  thought  and  effort  were  separated 
by  centuries,  but  our  times  have  united  wholly  discor- 
dant elements  in  the  three  cotemporaneous  generations. 
The  immense  contrasts  of  1750,  1789,  and  1815,  ac- 
knowledge no  transition  state,  and  appear  to  men  now 
living  not  as  succeeding  one  another,  but  as  coexist- 
ing." 

The  fact  of  conflict  was  not  only  intelligible  to  Per- 
thes, but  even  matter  of  rejoicing.  *'  You  remember 
what  I  said  to  you  in  1815,"  he  writes  to  Fouque, 
"  that  the  real  hard  fighting  would  only  begin  with  the 
war  of  minds,  when  the  external  warfare  should  be 
over.  And  now,  do  you  think  I  should  be  sorry  if  I 
turned  out  to  be  in  the  right  ?  By  no  means.  Re- 
member, dear  Fouque,  liere  below,  in  some  way  or  an- 
other, work  is  God's  will  for  man.  Man  has  more  time 
on  hand  than  he  can  spend  in  mere  love  and  contem- 
plation ;  therefore,  pray  and  work  ;  now  warfare  and 
struggle  are  a  sort  of  work.  It  is  in  vain  that  as  friends 
we  give  each  other  the  hand  of  love ;  as  soon  as  we 
would  come  to  an  understanding,  by  word  or  deed,  on 
any  subject  of  liuman  interest,  we  find  ourselves  in  mu- 
tual opposition,  and  a  conflict  is  inevitable  till  the  goal 
be  reached.  You  do  not  yourself  like  the  stagnant 
waters  of  indifference,  the  slough  of  compliance  and 
servility  ;  why  tlien  be  disquieted  by  conflicts  in  these 
times,  even  when  they  arise  among  friends  ?  But  let 
no  unfair  weapon  be  ever  made  use  of,  and  let  us  give 
even  our  opponents  credit  for  intentions  good  and  no- 
ble as  our  own.  It  is  only  when  experience  has  proved 
them  to  be  otherwise,  that  indignation,  driving  the  liar 
out  of  the  sanctuary  with  sword  and  scourge,  can  be- 
come well-pleasing  to  God." 


THE   SUMMER   OP    1819.  298 

Perthes  was,  however,  reminded  by  serious  and 
thoughtful  men,  that  conflict  is  not  itself  true  life,  and 
that  it  does  not  always,  as  a  matter  of  course,  end  in 
victory. 

A  letter  which  Perthes  received  from  Gorres  about 
the  end  of  the  year  1818,  expresses  the  opinions  of 
many  eminent  men  of  the  period.  "  You,  my  dear 
Hanseatic  friend,"  he  says,  "  have  now  seen  what  recep- 
tion my  address  has  met  with  from  the  most  dastardly 
and  the  coarsest  of  despotisms.  The  slightest  stimu- 
lant applied  to  these  people  brings  on  delirium  and 
convulsions,  and  without  stimulants  they  sink  into 
dulness  and  lethargy.  The  Rhenish  Mercury  was  the 
very  thing  for  them.  Every  other  day  it  came  out 
with  an  ointment,  compounded  according  to  circum- 
stances, of  bitter,  stimulant,  sedative,  gently  purgative, 
or  nauseating  ingredient.  Thus  an  equilibrium  was 
maintained,  a  gentle  perspiration  induced,  the  exces- 
sive irritation  carried  off,  and  the  animal  spirits  set 
once  more  into  regular  circulation.  After  three  years 
of  silence,  I  thought  it  well  to  send  a  rocket  among 
the  parties  again,  in  the  form  of  an  address,  but  I  can- 
not say  that  it  has  revealed  to  me  anything  agreeable. 
It  showed  me  princes  who  have  been  in  the  school  of 
adversity  without  having  learned  anything  there,  not 
even  so  much  as  to  take  care  of  their  own  dignity  : 
ministers  who  have  good  intentions  but  no  ability,  de- 
cision; or  courage  :  a  Court  opposition, — bad  rather 
from  the  absence  of  all  good  than  from  the  presence 
of  positive  evil,  stupid  to  brutishness,  awkward  as  a 
Rhinoceros,  cowardly,  contemptible,  and  beneath  all 
criticism  throughout :  a  democratic  party  without 
unity,  without  standing-ground,  inactive,  yet  running 


296  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

after  every  Jack  o^  Lanthorn,  always  hoping  that  over 
night  things  will  shape  themselves  anew ;  without 
skilful  leaders,  without  principles  or  comprehensive 
views  ;  arrogant,  frivolous,  scatter-brained,  and  negli- 
gent ;  barren  and  inconsistent ;  at  once  cowardly  and 
boastful ;  without  dignity,  vigor,  and  repose.  Such 
are  the  magnificos  of  this  crotchety  time  ;  they  are 
worthy  of  a  generation  that  has  stood  on  the  pinnacle 
of  the  temple,  and  yet  waded  through  every  sort  of 
mire  ;  which  has  shown  aptitude  only  in  destroying, 
complete  impotence  in  building  up.  Like  the  Jews, 
who  spent  forty  years  in  the  wilderness  and  never  saw 
the  promised  land,  so  these  men  will  accomplish  noth- 
ing, but  only  lay  the  foundation  of  something  better. 
Another  generation,  however,  is  growing  up  now,  from 
which  we  may  reasonably  expect  much  good.'' 

The  year  1819  is  rightly  regarded  as  a  turning-point 
in  the  history  of  Germany. 

Perthes  himself  distrusted  the  noisy  orators  of  1819. 
He  thought  that  civil  freedom  could  exist  only  when 
the  members  of  a  state  think  less  of  themselves  than 
of  the  general  good  ;  and  to  the  question  whether  this 
were  the  spirit  of  the  liberals,  he  answered,  "  No : 
division  and  discontent  characterize  the  popular  lead- 
ers, because  they  are  in  bondage  to  the  spirit  of  selfish- 
ness, which,  I  fear,  is  at  present  the  prevailing "  spirit 
of  liberalism." 

The  murder  of  Kotzebue  by  Sand,  on  the  23d  of 
March,  1819,  revealed  to  every  one  the  form  which  the 
spirit  of  the  times  might  assume  in  overheated  imagina- 
tions. Perthes  wrote, — "  That  which  gives  such  a 
frightful  aspect  to  the  deed,  is  that  it  seems  almost  to 
have  been  necessitated  by  the  course  of  events.     It  is 


THE   SUMMER   OF    1819.  297 

not  detestation  of  the  murder  that  should  move  us  first 
and  most ;  it  is  especially  important  that  both  rulers 
and  subjects  should  recognize  in  this  crime,  a  last  and 
terrible  warning,  which,  since  all  milder  intimations 
have  proved  vain,  should  open  our  eyes  to  the  state  of 
things  which  has  rendered  so  bloody  a  deed  possible, 
and  to  the  terrible  future  that  awaits  us  without  a 
thorough  political  regeneration.  The  germs  of  other 
terrible  events  lie  in  this  act,  which  is,  only  apparent- 
ly^ the  crime  of  an  individual.  Fanaticism  once  arm- 
ed with  the  dagger  will  not  stop  at  the  comic  drama- 
tist." 

A  statesman  wrote  to  Perthes  in  the  summer  follow- 
ing : — '•  The  murder  of  Kotzebue  is  like  a  jet  of  fire 
from  a  volcanic  abyss  ;  the  flame  may  be  put  out,  but 
the  sea  of  fire  still  surges  beneath.  The  judgments 
passed  on  the  horrible  deed  are  more  frightful  than  the 
deed  itself,  and  show  that  the  state  of  feeling  which 
engendered  it  is  not  confined  to  a  few  excited  students. 
The  individual  criminals  may,  and  should  be  punished 
with  the  utmost  rigor  of  the  law  ;  but  a  system  of  ter- 
rorism would  only  multiply  the  chances  of  a  revolution- 
ary outbreak  ;  for  every  hydra-head  cut  off,  two  new 
ones  would  spring  up.  The  Germans  have  a  profound 
longing  for  common  objects  of  affection,  reverence,  and 
hope ;  but  this  craving  received  no  satisfaction  after, 
the  victory  over  France.  On  the  contrary,  the  victors 
see  the  vanquished  in  possession  of  great  national 
treasures  ;  honored  and  respected  as  a  people,  while 
they  themselves  are  deprived  of  all  political  co- 
herence and  importance.  The  result  is,  that,  failing 
objects  of  common  love,  the  Germans  have  found  out 
objects  of  common  hatred — and  it  is  impossible  for  any 


298  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

government  to  maintain  the  existing  political  order 
long  in  opposition  to  such  a  state  of  opinion." 

"  The  whole  German  nation,  governments,  and  peo- 
ple, are  turned  hypochondriac,"  writes  another  distant 
friend  ;  "  you  all  talk  so  much  about  perils  and  de- 
struction, that  you  will  actually  die  of  the  fear  of 
death  ;  get  rid  of  this  death-phobia,  and  you  will  find 
yourselves  well,  at  least  as  well  as  man  can  be  on 
earth.  You  have  many  imaginary  evils  and  much  real 
good  ;  but  being,  as  I  said,  hypochondriac,  you  must 
needs  be  angry  when  any  one  says  to  you,  *  My  dear 
friend,  you  are  really  not  so  very  ill.'  Just  look  at 
France — where  there  is  much  imaginary  good  and 
much  real  evil ;  but  there  everybody  is  cheerful,  and 
rejoices  in  the  delightful  consciousness  of  belonging  to 
*  la  grande  Nation.^  If  the  German  nation  could  but 
make  the  tour  of  Europe,  it  would  on  its  return  find 
life  very  bearable  at  home." 

Perthes  shared  the  universal  dissatisfaction  at  the 
inactivity  of  the  rulers.  After  giving  vent  to  it  very 
decidedly  in  one  of  his  letters,  he  proceeds  :  "  The  ap- 
pearance of  Madame  de  Stael's  *  Considerations  sur  la 
Revolution  Frangais'  may  be  useful.  This  talented 
work  will  be  read  by  princes,  for  it  is  written  in  the 
language  of  their  drawing-rooms.  When  they  see  how 
the  murderous  axe  of  revolution  hung  over  the  king^s 
head  they  will  tremble  at  the  sound  of  the  tempest  that  is 
approaching  their  own  thrones,  and  when  all  other  in- 
ducements have  failed,  fear  may  perhaps  force  them 
into  action." 

"  The  sovereigns  of  Europe,"  wrote  Perthes,  "  have 
placed  themselves  in  opposition  to  the  half-slumbering, 
half-roused  peoples,  and  seek,  like  master-tailors,  to 


THE  SUMMER   OP    1819.  299 

shape  governments  for  them.  Governed,  indeed,  we 
must  be,  and  kings  and  princes  we  must  have,  but  we 
need  not  be  bondsmen  for  all  that." 

A  lively  representation  of  the  public  excitement  oc- 
curs in  a  letter  written  to  Perthes  about  the  end  of 
December,  1818  :  "At  Weimer  I  rubbed  shoulders 
with  the  Emperor  Alexander  this  time,  as  twelve  years 
ago  with  the  Emperor  Napoleon.  Now,  as  then,  I 
found  everybody  in  excitement ;  even  Goethe  spoke  of 
nothing  but  the  masquerade  in  which  he  was  to  de- 
claim his  own  noblest  pieces  to  their  high  mightinesses. 
Twelve  years  ago  Napoleon  was  in  a  great  hurry,  but 
he  came  from  Paris,  and  went  I  know  not  whither,  and 
had  a  hundred  cannon  in  his  train.  Alexander  was 
also  in  a  great  hurry,  but  he  came  from  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  and  is  going  to  Petersburg  with  twelve  carriages 
full  of  lacqueys,  gentle  and  simple — some  with  pointed, 
others  with  flat  noses.  It  thus  appears  that  an  em- 
peror is  not  always  the  same  thing  ;  so  at  least  I 
thought,  when,  at  Erfurt,  I  heard  Napoleon  abused  in 
the  most  outrageous  manner  by  the  officers  after  he 
was  sent  to  St.  Helena  ;  wliioh  reminded  me  of  Blu- 
menbach's  furious  anger  at  the  mischievous  disposition 
of  scorpions,  when,  at  the  very  time  he  was  exhibiting 
them  to  his  auditors  preserved  in  spirits !" 


XXVII 


mA\     A-*     ♦ 


I  HE  men  to  whom  in  his  youth  Perthes  had 
been  accustomed  to  look  up  with  child-like 
reverence ;  by  whose  faith  and  convictions 
he  had  strengthened  his  own  ;  and  in  whose 
strivings  he  had  found  a  guide  through  the 
intricacies  of  his  own  inner  life,  were  no 
longer  in  the  arena  on  which  the  great  relig- 
ious conflicts  of  the  age  were  to  be  fought  out.  The 
man,  to  whose  words  he  once  listened  as  to  those  of  an 
oracle,  had  now  become  a  loved  and  honored  patriarch, 
who  required  and  received  the  most  tender  considera- 
tion. 

In  December,  1818,  Frederick  Henry  Jacobi,  then  in 
his  seventy-seventh  year,  wrote  to  Perthes  a  few  lines 
concluding  thus  : — "  It  is  really  wonderful  h^w,  in  old 
age,  men  often  gain  what  they  had  previously  striven 
for  in  vain  ;  I,  for  instance,  can  speak  of  an  increasing 
cheerfulness." 

Perthes  answered, — "  You  have  certainly  every  rea- 
son to  be  cheerful ;  it  is  assuredly  no  misfortune  to 
have  reached  an  advanced  age,  and  few  even  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  retain  so  much  clearness  and 
activity  of  mind.  But  don't  look  for  production  any 
more ;  historical  narration  is  the  province  of  age.     I 

(300) 


RELIGIOUS    CONFLICTS   OP   THE   PERIOD.  301 

very  much  wish  you  would  let  alone  Part  Fourth  of  your 
works,  and  devote  yourself  to  gathering  and  arranging 
the  experience  of  the  last  forty-five  years  of  your  life. 
It  would  cheer  you,  by  bringing  vividly  before  you  the 
entire  circle  of  ideas  and  course  of  thought  belonging  to 
an  important  period.  If  it  has  not  been  granted  you  to 
accept  with  child-like  confidence  the  Divine  Revelation, 
because  you  have  eaten  too  largely  of  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge, this  is  indeed  a  great  spiritual  loss  ;  but  he  who 
can  ask  as  you  do  in  your  last  letter,  '  Where  and  what 
is  truth  ?'  possesses  humility  before  God,  such  as  few 
inquirers  like  yourself  attain  to  ;  and  humility  is  the 
very  kernel  of  humanity,  and  the  way  to  God.'^ 

Throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Protestant 
Germany,  the  rationalism  of  the  18th  century,  as  pro- 
pounded by  Roehr,  Bretschneider,  Paulus,  and  others, 
had  exercised  absolute  dominion,  but  its  very  existence 
was  now  endangered  from  two  opposite  quarters.  The 
profounder  scientific  theology  had  appeared  in  alliance 
with  the  new  philosophy,  and  in  Schleiermacher  espe- 
cially, who  was  then  at  the  zenith  of  his  influence,  had 
found  a  powerful  champion.  It  withdrew  from  ration- 
alism the  loftiest  minds,  limited  its  influence  to  the  less 
intelligent,  and  tlireatened  its  extinction.  Scientific 
theology  might  at  .first  escape  the  notice  of  the  laity,  or 
it  might  be  suspected  of  merely  defending  the  old  errors 
of  rationalism  with  more  approved  weapons,  and  of 
making  the  ascertainment  of  truth  the  first  object, 
while  sanctification  in  the  truth  was  not  even  the  second. 
Doubts  of  this  kind  may  have  been  expressed  by  Per- 
thes in  the  letter  to  which  a  theological  friend  sent  the 
following  answer  : — "  We  ought  not  to  forget  that,  as 
the  majority,  and  among  these  the  most  eminent  men 


302  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

of  our  times  have  been  seduced  from  Christianity  by 
science,  it  is  only  through  science  that  they  can  be 
brought  back.  She  alone  can  heal  the  wounds  which 
herself  has  made.  In  saying  this  I  am  advancing 
nothing  new  ;  none  of  the  Fathers  thought  otherwise, 
though  undoubtedly,  they  were  as  ready  to  sacrifice  life 
and  fortune  for  their  convictions  as  any  of  our  present 
zealots  can  be  ;  nevertheless  they  always  acknowledged 
that  the  word  of  life  revealed  in  Christ  was  reflected 
in  the  philosophy  of  the  East  and  West,  and  that,  as 
the  Jews  by  the  law,  so  the  heathen  might  by  philosophy 
be  prepared  to  receive  Christ.'^  Perthes'  doubts  were 
in  nowise  removed  by  this  and  similar  representations  ; 
he  still  feared  that  the  theologians,  rejoicing  in  the 
newly  discovered  or  newly  established  scientific  ideas, 
would  not  resist  the  temptation  of  bringing  them  into 
the  Church,  which,  as  it  neither  was,  nor  could  be  a 
scientific  institution,  would  find  in  these  only  a  new 
element  of  disruption. 

On  the  other  hand,  Perthes  took  the  warmest  interest 
in  another  movement  that  threatened  rationalism  from 
a  different  quarter.  The  deeper  spiritual  life  which 
had  been  called  forth,  first  by  the  heavy  pressure  of  tlie 
French  yoke,  and  then  by  the  popular  rising  to  shake 
it  off,  was  actively  working  and  penetrating  into  the 
heart  of  the  nation.  The  craving  for  remission  of  sins 
and  godliness  of  life,  apart  from  all  scientific  theology, 
had  manifested  itself  in  individuals,  in  congregations, 
and  here  and  there  in  whole  parishes.  Not  finding 
satisfaction  in  the  prevailing  Rationalism,  the  subjects 
of  this  craving  betook  themselves  to  a  new,  or  rather 
to  a  very  old  method ;  in  all  parts  of  Germany,  asso- 
ciations were  formed  of  men  seeking  spiritual  help,  and 


RELIGIOUS   CONFLICTS   OP  THE   PERIOD.  803 

finding  it  in  the  old  faith  of  the  Church.  The  links 
which  had  held  the  whole  of  Germany  in  the  grasp  of 
Rationalism  were  broken,  and  its  prestige  as  the  uni- 
yersal  Protestant  creed  disappeared. 

Perthes  had  attentively  observed  the  new  movement ; 
and  though  he  was-  by  no  means  insensible  to  its  perils? 
its  aberrations,  and  its  caprices,  he  yet  rejoiced  in  it, 
in  so  far  as  it  was  earnest  and  healthy.  "  Harms  is 
now  pastor  in  Kiel,"'  he  writes  to  a  friend,  "  and  all 
Holstein  goes,  drives,  and  rides  to  hear  him,  even  the 
professors ;  and  if  Voss  should  come  to  Holstein  this 
summer,  it  will  be  at  the  risk  of  becoming  a  low  Ger- 
man* Christian.  Harms,  as  I  hear,  has  no  personal 
advantages,  and  an  unpleasant  delivery  ;  but  his  ear- 
nestness and  his  steadfast  belief  in  Divine  revelation, 
aided,  perhaps,  by  his  provincial  plainness,  carry  all 
before  them.  Falk  tells  me,  that  his  preaching  has 
already  made  other  preachers  somewhat  more  careful 
in  disseminating  their  rationalistic  wisdom,  so  that  they 
at  least  refrain  from  pulling  down  what  a  more  godly 
era  had  built  up."  In  mentioning  another  earnest  and 
pious  man,  who  headed  another  religious  movement, 
Perthes  regrets  his  arbitrary  use  of  Scripture  passages^ 
whereby  they  can  be  made  to  say  anything. 

A  friend  in  Berlin  wrote  to  Perthes,  that  certain 
young  men  in  that  city  were  attracting  attention  b}^  their 
earnestness  in  the  matter  of  salvation  ;  but  that  they 
were  of  a  sombre  mood,  regarding  everything  secular, 
and  even  art  itself,  as  sinful,  and  were  very  eager  prose- 
lytizers.  Perthes  answered,  "  If  the  zeal  of  the  young 
men  be  sincere,  you  need  not  alarm  yourself  about 

*  Platt-deutch,  low  German,  the  dialect  in  which  Harms  preached. 


304  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

their  gloom.  Sadness  and  cheerfulness  are  things  of 
temperament,  and  the  same  earnestness  and  faith  are 
variously  manifested,  by  some  in  seriousness,  by  others 
in  cheerfulness,  according  to  the  bodily  constitution, 
and  we  may  not,  on  account  of  the  earthly  husk,  quar- 
rel with  the  lieavenly  substance."    . 

Another  theological  friend  writes  : — "  A  very  pecu- 
liar view  of  Christianity  is  just  now  manifesting  itself 
here  and  there  among  the  Moravians.  They  split  men 
into  two  parts — the  natural,  which,  as  such,  according 
to  Kant,  has  no  knowledge  of  the  infinite  and  the 
divine,  but  appreciates  only  the  finite  and  temporal 
relations  of  things  ;  and  the  intuitive,  which  sees  God 
and  eternity  everywhere." 

Perthes  answered  : — "  It  is  not  the  business  of  Chris- 
tianity, by  fine-spun  theories,  to  immortalize  the  contest 
which  goes  on  within  us  all,  and  to  show  that  each  of 
the  combatants  is  justified  in  its  own  department ; 
rather  it  is  by  means  of  saving  faith  ^  to  make  oftioain  one 
new  raanP 

"  He  who  has  not  felt  the  internal  working  of  a 
great  mystery  which  is  ever  alienating  us  from  God," 
wrote  Perthes,  "  will  never  attain  to  that  humility 
without  which  the  saving  virtue  of  the  atonement  is 
inaccessible.  Tb^  flesh  is  not  the  root  of  evil,  pride, — 
pride  is  the  real  devil.  The  flesh  is  but  the  means  of 
punishment  and  cure,  ever  reminding,  even  the  proud- 
est, of  his  misery  and  helplessness.  Little  that  is 
positive  is  revealed  to  us,  but  that  little  is  all.  What 
form  shall  be  given  to  revealed  truth  is  an  open  ques- 
tion, for  it  breaks  into  rays  of  the  most  various  colors, 
according  to  the  fancy  and  modes  of  thought  peculiar 
to  individuals  and  epochs.     But  when  you  say  that  the 


RELIGIOUS   CONFLICTS   OP   THE   PERIOD.  305 

Christian  revelation,  if  received  as  truth,  at  once 
shrouds  history  and  philosophy  in  a  haze,  in  which 
man  is  confounded,  and  dreams  rather  than  thinks,  I 
reply,  that  to  every  one  who  ignores  the  redemption 
tlirough  Christ,  history  becomes  one  immense  tangled 
skein,  and  every  philosophical  system  a  sum  in  arith- 
metic, the  correctness  of  which,  for  want  of  proof,  can 
never  be  ascertained.  Inquiries  into  the  nature  of 
the  Trinity,  and  of  our  Lord,  into  redemption  and 
atonement,  are  great  and  noble,  but  the  craving  in 
which  they  originate  is  scientific,  not  spiritual.  We 
are  lighted  and  warmed  by  the  rays  of  the  sun, 
whether  we  understand  the  laws  of  light  and  heat  or 
not.  On  your  expression,  '  The  swinish  multitude  do 
indeed  require  a  faith  which  surpasses  comprehension,' 
I  must  observe,  that  the  arrogant  contempt  of  the 
people  which  it  betrays,  is  very  remarkable  in  so  de- 
termined a  liberal  as  yourself.  In  conclusion,  I  have 
only  further  to  say,  that  a  man  who,  like  you,  has 
never  been  seduced  by  the  allurements  of  sense,  and 
never  felt  the  swellings  of  pride,  nor  ever  needed  any 
to  help  him,  would  only  be  wasting  his  time  by  be- 
stowing further  attention  on  me.  Such  a  man  might 
clioose  for  his  spiritual  adviser  a  preacher  in  this 
neighborhood,  who  selected  two  Jews  as  sponsors  to 
his  own  child  ;  and  he  might  repeat  daily,  till  his  last 
hour,  that  men  are  all  in  the  right,  and  all  in  the 
wrong." 

An  upright  and  gifted  man,  far  gone  in  rational- 
ism, endeavored  in  lengthy  communications  to  justify 
to  Perthes  his  position  with  reference  to  the  Christian 
revelation.  "  My  words  will  not  have  pleased  you," 
he  says  in  conclusion,  "  but  I  cannot  help  it,  and  you 


306  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

have  too  much  sense  and  fairness  to  expect  fresh  bark 
on  an  old  withered  trunk." 

"  You  say,"  replied  Perthes,  "  that  with  the  myste- 
ries of  Christianity  your  religion  ceases.  To  this  I 
reply,  that  the  God  of  Rationalism  baffles  conception 
far  more  than  does  any  mystery  of  Christianity.  But 
for  Christianity  there  could  have  been  no  Rational- 
ism ;  and  apathy  alone  enables  it  to  remain  where  it 
is.  By  the  idea  of  an  Eternal  Being,  exalted  above 
time  and  space,  the  Rationalist  seeks  to  satisfy  him- 
self and  others, — but  what  he  means  by  these  words, 
he  neither  says  nor  knows.  Man  cannot  conceive  of 
a  personal  God  without  investing  Him  with  a  human 
form  ;  every  religion  is  an  incarnation  of  Deity,  and 
so  far  an  obscure  anticipation  of  God's  manifestation 
in  the  flesh.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  men  have  never 
attained  to  an  incarnation  of  God,  but  only  to  carica- 
tures of  it  ;  and  they  are  right  in  saying  that  by  no 
effort  of  human  thought  can  they  attain  to  a  proper 
incarnation,  to  atonement  and  redemption.  But  how 
does  that  effect  the  truth  involved  in  the  historical 
fact  ?  In  no  way.  The  most  acute  thinkers  could  not 
by  thinking  discover  the  Roman  Empire  ;  but  had  it, 
therefore,  no  existence  ?  You,  my  dear  friend,  will  be 
obliged  to  go  either  forwards  or  backwards,  since  you 
cannot,  like  others,  shut  the  eyes  of  your  understand- 
ing." 

"  You  say  that  Christianity  is  forced  upon  man," 
wrote  Perthes  to  another  friend,  "  and  are  displeased 
that  it  should  be  so.  I,  at  all  events,  cannot  complain 
of  any  such  violence.  Neither  upon  me  nor  upon  any 
of  my  contemporaries  did  any  teacher  or  pastor,  force 
eternal  truth,  nor  so  much  as  bring  it  near  to  us,  by 


RELIGIOUS   CONFLICTS   OP  THE   PERIOD.  307 

an  injunction  to  attend  church  or  read  the  Bible.    But 

as  every  year  strengthened  the  conviction  of  my  divine 
origin,  I  felt  but  the  more  deeply  the  degradation  of 
my  shameful  bondage  through  the  flesh  and  the  mind. 
My  trouble  on  account  of  selfishness  and  impurity 
drove  me  to  seek  reconciliation  with  the  God  before 
whom  I  trembled,  and  thus  led  me  to  recognize  and 
lay  hold  on  revelation.  Christianity  was  not  forced 
upon  me,  but  I  upon  Christianity  ;  I  was  thrown  by 
an  inward  necessity  into  the  arms  of  the  Saviour,  and 
so,  I  believe,  are  many  others." 

"  Our  existence  is  that  of  fallen  spirits,"  he  says  in 
another  letter  ;  "  but  we  have  retained  a  yearning 
after  the  purity  of  our  divine  origin,  and  this  elevates 
everything.  We  all  are  conscious  of  an  effort  to  soar, 
to  climb,  or  to  creep  upwards  ;  many  get  the  length  of 
struggling  with  evil,  but  none  gain  a  victory  over  it ; 
the  most  elevated,  as  well  as  the  most  grovelling  na- 
tures, need  a  Helper  and  Mediator  in  order  to  rise  ; 
and  he  who  is  unconscious  of  this  necessity,  wearies 
himself  out  in  ineffectual  endeavors.  For  him  who, 
in  the  anguish  of  his  heart,  cries  out,  '  I  am  a  miser- 
able sinner,'  and  stretches  forth  his  arms  to  the 
Saviour, — for  him,  I  say,  Christ  died.  How  closely, 
then,  is  faith  in  the  Redeemer  allied  with  the  realiza- 
tion of  one's  own  sinfulness !  Many,  who  no  more 
recognized  Christ  than  did  the  disciples  at  Emmaus, 
may  yet  have  prayed  to  Him,  and  in  their  perplexity 
made  an  idol  their  mediator.  Such  men  Christ  will, 
in  His  own  time,  bring  to  that  truth,  which  is  rest  and 
light ;  and  many  will  sit  down  on  the  right  hand  of 
God,  who  in  this  life  never  uttered  the  name  of 
Christ." 


308  CAROLINE   Pf:RTHES. 

"  The  Divine  light,"  says  Count  F.  L.  Stolberg  in 
one  of  his  letters,  "  has  so  thorouglily  penetrated  the 
modern  mind,  that  our  civilization  could  not  be  pre- 
served if  that  light  were  extinguished.  The  heathen 
philosophy  found  an  element  of  preservation  in  that 
yearning  after  light  in  which  it  originated  ;  but  the 
false  philosophy  of  our  times  originates  in  insensibility, 
audacity,  and  vanity,  without  any  yearning  after  light 
or  truth.  The  Divine  light,  indeed,  will  never  be  ex- 
tinguished, but  the  candlestick,  on  which  it  is  placed, 
may  be  removed  from  a  land  that  has  rejected  it,  to 
another  ;  and  of  this,  history  furnishes  alarming  ex- 
amples." 

The  certainty  to  which  Perthes  had  attained  in  mat- 
ters of  faith,  did  not  extend  to  ecclesiastical  questions; 
but  he  did  not  consider  his  own  salvation  or  that  of 
others  endangered  by  uncertainty  with  reference  to 
these.  He,  nevertheless,  considered  the  external  Church 
to  be  of  inestimable  value  as  a  depositary  of  the  faith. 
"  God  has,  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  he  writes  to  a 
friend,  "  taught  us  the  way  in  which  He  delivers  men 
from  their  self-imposed  slavery.  Man,  however,  is  so 
obstinately  self-willed,  that  he  cannot  apprehend  the 
directions  of  Scripture  :  he  overlooks  them,  perverts 
them,  or  stares  at  them  stupidly  in  the  letter,  so  that, 
in  fact,  he  requires  a  second  helper,  in  order  to  avail 
himself  of  the  help  which  they  contain.  But  who  is 
to  open  up  to  him  the  depths  of  their  meaning?  AVfio 
is  to  keep,  disseminate,  and  expound  the  Scriptures  ? 
This  is  tlie  grand  and  the  hard  question.  Scripture 
needs  protection  against  the  perversity  of  man  ;  man 
needs  an  interpreter  of  Scripture,  and  the  visible  Church 
is  the  institution  charo^ed  with  both  these  functions." 


XXVIII 


LTHOUGH  neither  the  political  commotions 
nor  the  manifold  religious  and  ecclesiastical 
controversies  of  the  time  ever  became  unin- 
teresting to  Caroline,  or  failed  to  draw  forth 
her  sympathies,  they  never  again  engrossed 
her  whole  soul  as  in  1813.  Her  heart  was  in 
her  home,  and  there  she  ever  found  fresh 
cause  of  joy  and  gratitude. 

Her  eldest  daughter,  Agnes,  had  been  betrothed, 
since  the  summer  of  1813,  to  William  Perthes,  who 
had  formerly  taken  part  in  the  business  at  Hamburgh, 
afterwards  campaigned  as  a  volunteer,  and  now  man- 
aged the  business  which  he  had  inherited  from  his 
father  in  Gotha,  and  which,  under  his  auspices,  had 
become  very  flourishing. 

"  God  has  again  showered  down  joy  and  gladness 
upon  us,"  wrote  Caroline  about  this  time  ;  "  how  can 
I  thank  Him  enough  for  so  manifestly  protecting  us  and 
our  children  !  It  is  certainly  a  great  happiness  to  be 
able  to  commit  so  pure  and  innocent  a  child  to  the  man 
whom  we  have  so  long  esteemed,  knowing  that  he  will 
cleave  to  her  with  his  whole  heart,  loving  and  cherish- 
ing her  as  long  as  he  lives." 

On  the  12th  of  May,  1818,  the  marriage  took  placo, 

(309) 


310  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

and  on  the  16th  the  young  couple  departed  for  their 
new  home. 

The  following  is  the  first  letter  of  a  correspondence 
which  supplied  the  lack  of  personal  intercourse  : — 
"  My  beloved  Agnes,  you  have  hardly  been  gone  from 
me  three  hours,  and  I  am  already  writing  to  you,  be- 
cause I  cannot  help  it.  When  you  left,  I  watched  you 
till  you  had  passed  the  bridge,  and  then  gave  you  up 
in  the  sure  confidence  that  you  are,  and  ever  will  re- 
main, in  God's  hands.  You,  dear  Agnes,  know  that 
I  love  you,  and  can  imagine  the  re&t.  How  well  I  re- 
member the  moment  when  you  were  first  laid  beside 
me  on  the  bed,  when  I  looked  at  you  for  the  first  time, 
and  gave  you  the  first  kiss.  Since  then,  I  have  re- 
joiced in  you  every  day,  I  might  say  every  hour, 
through  twenty  years.  Should  I  not  thank  God,  and 
if  He  has  willed  it,  consent  to  part  with  you  ?  He 
will  forgive  me  if  I  cannot  do  it  without  tears.  And 
you,  too,  my  dear  Agnes,  must  and  ought  to  weep  ;  and 
your  beloved  William  will  understand  you,  and  forgive 
you  if  you  weep  too  long.  Never  conceal  from  him 
anything  that  relates  to  yourself,  even  if  you  think 
that  it  may  displease  him  ;  you  will  soon  find  that 
even  with  the  fondest  love,  there  is  room  for  mutual 
forbearance.  I  rejoice  beforehand  in  your  future,  for 
we,  too,  shall  be  sharers  in  it :  remember  that  you  are 
never  to  be  weary  of  communicating  your  joys  and 
sorrows,  that  so  we  may  still  live  a  common  life." 

Joy  and  gratitude  for  the  happiness  of  her  daughter, 
and  for  her  own,  was  the  groundwork  of  all  Caroline's 
letters.  '^  Perthes  has  just  brought  me  your  letter,"  she 
writes  in  answer  to  the  first  news  from  Gotha  :  "  I  have 
read  it  again  and  again,  and  rejoice  and  thank  God,  and 


MARRIAGE  OF  THE  ELDEST  DAUGHTER.     311 

also  your  dear  William,  for  making  you  so  liappy. 
You  know  how  confident  I  was  of  this  beforehand,  and 
it  will  be  permanent  where  God  has  given  His  bless- 
ing. Conjugal  happiness  lives  in  the  depths  of  the 
heart  even  amid  the  sorrows  and  trials  of  life  ;  indeed 
it  is  by  these  only  the  more  deeply  rooted,  as  I  know 
from  my  own  experience,  thank  God.  I  rejoice  with 
you,  and  on  your  account,  dear  children,  and  school 
myself  to  bear  your  absence  cheerfully  ;  so  does  your 
father  ;  it  is  a  real  pleasure  to  look  at  his  face  when 
he  comes  to  the  door  with  one  of  your  letters." 

"  We  cannot  think  of  anything  but  William's  birth- 
day," she  writes  somewhat  later ;  "  we  would  gladly 
have  lived  in  the  same  place  with  you  if  God  had  so 
ordered  it.  Ah  I  what  a  pity  that  the  world  is  so 
wide !  how  delightful  it  would  be  if  we,  and  all  whom 
we  love,  could  live  together,  and  we  could  have  kept 
this  birth-day  with  you.  But  I  will  not  complain,  I 
will  rather  rejoice  and  be  glad  even  in  your  removal. 
May  God  preserve  your  happiness  to  you  and  us,  and 
with  it  a  thankful  and  watchful  heart.  I  cannot  tell 
you  often  enough  that  you  are  always  with  me  and 
at  my  side  ;  and  none  knows  so  well  as  myself  how 
gladly  I  would  hear  you  answer  when  in  thought  I 
speak  with  you.  At  the  same  time,  I  do  not  grudge 
you  to  your  dear  William,  and  it  is  my  constant  desire 
that  you  may  become  dearer  and  dearer  to  each  other. 
That  you  are  in  the  right  path  I  am  fully  pursuaded  ; 
yours  is  indeed  a  happy  lot,  ray  beloved  Agnes,  and  if 
every  day  finds  you  walking  more  humbly  before  God, 
and  more  lovingly,  you  will  have  a  lieaven  within  you. 
Your  dear  father  is  well  and  cheerful.  Would  that  he 
could  only  secure  a  quiet  hour  for  me  occasionally  ! 


312  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

this  is  my  only  want,  and  it  troubles  me  more  and 
oftener  than  it  ought." 

In  July,  1818,  Caroline  went  with  Perthes  for  a  few 
days  to  Liibeck  to  visit  her  family,  returning  by 
Rheinfeld,  the  birth-place  of  her  father. 

"  We  have  actually  been  to  Liibeck,  and  have  enjoyed 
it  very  much,"  she  wrote  to  Agnes.  "  Your  father  was 
young  again,  and  very  merry,  and  so  was  I.  We 
stayed  two  days  with  my  brother,  and  were  truly  happy. 
I  am  really  well,  and  hardly  know  which  is  best,  to 
awake  or  to  go  to  sleep  in  health  ;  but  I  think  the  lat- 
ter. Oh,  Agnes,  pray  that  I  may  remain  so  ! — St. 
Mary's  Church  is  large,  and  I  believe  that  many  ear- 
nest prayers  and  cries  ascend  to  heaven  from  it.  The 
long  row  of  tombs,  with  their  great  stone  cofi&ns,  and 
the  obscurity  of  the  place,  impressed  me  deeply  ;  one 
can  hardly  realize  the  destruction  of  these  heavy  cof- 
fins, and  this  is  to  me  an  unpleasant  thought,  seeing 
that  the  body,  on  account  of  which  they  are  erected, 
is  so  soon  dissolved.  The  Cathedral  Church  is  very 
fine,  and  I  would  gladly  pass  an  occasional  hour  there. 
On  Tuesday  evening  we  left  for  Rheinfeld  :  the  quiet- 
ness of  this  place  passes  all  description  ;  it  is  situated 
on  the  shore  of  a  large  lake,  richly  wooded  on  one 
side.  It  was  a  still,  peaceful  evening  :  we  had  escaped 
from  the  world,  were  alone,  and  inconceivably  happy. 
Would  to  God  we  had  more  such  hours !  When  our 
busy  life  in  Hamburgh  occurred  to  me,  I  felt  rather 
discouraged,  and  yet  I  am  convinced  that  my  work 
there  is,  on  the  whole,  better  for  me  than  this  calm 
blessedness.  God  has  led  me  by  a  very  difi'erent  way 
from  that  which  I  had  laid  out  for  myself,  but  it  lias 
been  the  right  way — this  I  not  only  believe  but  know  ; 


MARRIAGE   OF   THE   ELDEST    DAUGHTER.  313 

He  has  given  me  in  labor  and  tumult  what  I  would 
gladly  have  sought  and  found  in  quiet  and  solitude. 
We  also  went  to  the  church  of  your  dear  grandfather, 
and  to  his  grave,  and  into  the  confessional  where  there 
was  an  old  arm-chair  in  which  he  had  often  sat,  and  a 
few  books  in  which  he  had  often  read.  The  next 
morning  we  again  went  out  for  a  walk,  and  rested 
ourselves  in  a  beautiful  spot.  How  did  I  rejoice  in 
the  happiness  of  Perthes,  he  was  so  delighted  with  rae 
and  everything  !  But  to  return  to  you  and  your  letter  : 
what  you  write  of  N.'s  children  is  true,  and  distresses 
me  greatly,  for  I  am  convinced  that  heartfelt  love, 
which  lets  itself  be  seen,  and  in  a  manner  felt  in  every- 
thing, is  the  dew  and  the  rain  indispensable  to  the 
growth  and  bloom  of  children.  I  believe  that  the 
more  children  are  loved,  and  the  more  conscious  they 
are  of  being  loved,  tlie  better  ;  of  course  there  is  also 
a  time  for  seriousness  and  discipline.  But  I  know 
many  people  who  think  it  right  carefully  to  conceal 
tlieir  aifection  from  their  children.  They  should  study 
1  Cor.  xiii,  and  they  would  see  that  tliere  is  nothing  to 
fear  in  that  direction.  You  know  that  with  reference 
neither  to  children,  nor  to  anything  else,  am  I  fond 
of  words  ;  but  to  give  occasional  expression  to  the 
feelings  of  the  heart,  I  consider  not  only  not  wrong, 
but  right ;  the  mouth  naturally  overflows  with  what- 
ever fills  the  heart, — and  how  can  it  overflow  but  in 
words  ?" 

Caroline  was  anxious  to  instruct  her  daughter  in 
housekeeping,  and  often  desired  her  to  write  all  sorts 
of  details.  In  return  she  sent  many  an  approved  re- 
ceipt, and  many  a  useful  hint,  and  also  gave  news 
of  her  daughter's  friends.  Thus  : — "  You  ask  after 
14 


314  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Z.  ;  she  was  here  lately,  and  was  so  ingenuous  and  con- 
fiding, that,  to  my  horror,  she  did  not  shrink  from  say- 
ins:  that  she  believed  all  unmarried  women  had  missed 
their  vocation,  and  had  but  a  melancholy  prospect.  I 
pray  God  to  defend  every  girl  from  so  miserable  a 
notion.  No  ;  God  has  provided  love  and  happiness 
for  all  who  will  accept  them,  whatever  their  rank  or 
sex.  No  one  need  want  objects  of  affection,  dear  Ag- 
nes ;  you  cannot  for  a  moment  doubt  that  I,  like  you, 
regard  a  good  husband  as  a  great  and  precious  gift 
from  God  ;  but  God  can  send  His  blessing  directly  in- 
to the  heart,  without  attaching  it  to  any  intermediate 
object,  and  make  us  happy  without  husbands.  For, 
dear  Agnes,  your  mutual  love  can  be  a  means  of  hap- 
piness and  blessing  only  as  it  increases  your  love  to 
God  ;  and  can  you  not  imagine,  that  to  turn  directly 
to  God,  and  love  Him  without  the  intervention  of  any 
human  medium,  must  be  far,  far  better  ?  And  even 
with  a  human  medium  I  can  imagine  unmarried  to  be 
quite  as  happy  as  married  life,  else  poor  maidens  must 
indeed  despair,  and  we  with  them,  and  for  them.  If 
we  but  propose  to  ourselves  some  serious  object,  pur- 
suing it  with  our  whole  heart,  and  laboring  for  it  in 
dependence  on  God,  His  blessing  and  happiness  can 
never  fail  us.  This  is  my  honest  opinion,  and  I  believe 
that  every  young  woman  acts  wisely  when  she  turns 
her  affections  to  God,  instead  of  looking  about  her 
with  yearning  and  anxiety  for  an  earthly  object ;  this 
is  a  melancholy  condition  which  withers  and  dries  up 
the  heart,  and  annihilates  all  happiness.  I  know  noth- 
ing so  sad  as  a  poor  girl  in  this  condition,  especially 
if  she  be  pure  and  good.  If,  however,  a  woman  finds 
such  a  dear  Perthes  as  you  and  I  have  found,  or  rather 


MARRIAGE   OF   THE   ELDEST   DAUGHTER.  315 

as  God  has  o^iven  us,  let  her  close  with  him  at  once, 
and  be  thankful." 

But  Caroline's  anxiety  about  the  spiritual  influences 
that  her  daughter  might  find  in  her  new  home,  took 
precedence  of  every  other.  "  I  thank  you  for  your 
letter,"  she  wrote,  "  but  not  at  all  that  you  have  not 
yet  looked  out  for  a  real  friend  of  your  own  sex.  I 
earnestly  wish  one  for  you,  so  that  you  may  have  some- 
thing to  fall  back  upon,  when  William  cannot  be  with 
you.  If  you  are  sketching  a  model  of  perfection  in 
your  friend,  I  can  quite  understand  how  it  is  that 
you  have  not  found  one  ;  but  you  must  make  allow- 
ances, and  go  forth  with  a  generous  confidence,  not 
sufi'ering  yourself  to  be  ruffled,  as  you  too  often  do. 
It  is  often  easier  to  tolerate  weaknesses  and  failings, 
than  manners  and  modes  of  speech  to  which  we  are  un- 
accustomed. Only  bear  perpetually  in  mind  that  there 
is  no  difi'erence  at  heart  between  the  people  of  Gotha 
and  Hamburgh  ;  there,  as  here,  there  is  much  short- 
coming and  much  good,  and  many  little  things  that 
you  would  rather  do  without,  yet  which  you  must  take 
along  with  every  acquisition.  It  is  very  natural  that 
the  good  qualities  of  your  friends  here  should  appear 
to  you  in  the  liveliest  colors  ;  their  weaknesses  and 
failings,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  faintest  ;  and  yet, 
there  were  not  many  of  them  with  whom  you  could 
speak  of  the  deepest  and  holiest  things,  and  to  whom 
you  could  pour  out  your  whole  heart.  Nevertheless 
you  loved  them,  and  took  pleasure  in  their  society. 
Only  make  the  attempt  in  Gotha,  let  your  heart  speak 
in  truth  and  confidence,  and  you  will  find  that  what 
comes  from  the  heart,  goes  to  the  heart ;  you  will  be 
met  more  than  half  way,  for  the  necessity   and   the 


316  CAROLINE  PEiiTnp:s. 

pleasure  of  loving  and  being  loved  is  common  to  us 
all,  and  the  young  ladies  there  have  no  William  as  you 
have." 

Perthes  also  wrote  to  warn  his  daughter  against  se- 
clusion from  others  : — •*  Make  the  most  of  your  own 
happiness,  but  remember  that  you  are  not  alone  in 
the  world  ;  and  do  not  shut  up  your  house  from  your 
friends  !  it  is  perilous,  and  leads  to  family  egotism,  and 
brings  its  own  punishment.  I  am  glad  that  you  have 
young  men  living  with  your  dear  William  ;  continue 
this  custom  even  to  old  age  ;  it  will  preserve  you  alike 
from  the  gossip  and  the  tedium  of  company.  Commu- 
nicate freely  with  others,  and  show  that  domestic  hap- 
piness does  not  estrange  you  from  them.  The  earth  is 
God's  house,  and  we  may  not  live  only  to  ourselves. 
I  know,  dear  Agnes,  that  you  will  not  let  any  needy 
person  whom  you  can  help  go  empty  away  ;  but  neigh- 
bors and  acquaintances  wish  to  talk  of  their  affairs, 
their  joys  and  sorrows,  and  those  of  their  friends,  and 
nothing  is  so  offensive  as  cold  reserve,  as  though  we 
were  beings  of  a  superior  nature,  able  to  live,  and  suf- 
fer, and  rejoice  alone." 

"  That  you  do  not  find  in  the  pulpit  what  you  seek," 
wrote  Caroline,  "  distresses  me  greatly,  but  does  not 
surprise  me,  since  the  clergy  for  the  most  part  preach 
only  morality,  which  is  but  meagre  fare.  But  do  not 
be  cast  down  on  this  account,  my  dear  Agnes  ;  take 
refuge  in  your  inner  church  :  God  can  serve  up  a  bet- 
ter table  than  any  preacher,  and  will  assuredly  feed 
you,  if  only  you  are  hungry.  The  old  hymns  and  cho- 
rals have  ever  been  my  best  stimulants,  and  are  so 
still,  whenever  the  inner  life  grows  languid  ;  in  par- 
ticular, those  beautiful  hymns  of  longing  after.  God,  in 


MARRIAGE  OF  THE  ELDEST  DAUGHTER.     317 

Freylinghausen's  book,  have  often  revived  me,  and 
will,  I  trust,  support  me  even  in  death.  But  if  the 
preaching  be  not  satisfactory,  do  not  on  tliis  account 
absent  yourself  from  church  ;  there  are  seasons  in 
which  you  are  more  likely  to  be  aroused  and  quick- 
ened in  the  church  than  in  the  house,  where  I  at  least 
seldom  have  a  quiet  hour." 

"  I  am  indeed  sorry,"  she  says  in  a  letter  of  later 
date,  "  that  you  are  obliged  to  live  without  music  ; 
still,  my  advice  is,  not  to  form  any  intimacies  only  for 
the  sake  of  music  ;  you  might  pay  too  dearly  for  it, 
and  not  perliaps  find  it  easy  to  draw  back.  My  piano 
is  also  dumb,  1  cannot  sing  one  of  our  songs  to  it ; 
w^ien  I  sound  the  first  note,  I  feel  that  you  are  no 
longer  by  my  side  ;  tears  then  come  and  choke  the 
rest.  Yes,  dear  Agnes,  I  feel  that  it  is  a  hard  duty  to 
part  with  a  gift  in  which  God  has  so  long  allowed  us 
to  rejoice." 

In  this,  and  in  many  other  letters,  we  see  the  struggle 
in  Caroline's  heart,  between  her  joy  at  the  happiness 
of  her  child,  and  the  sorrow  of  separation.  "  I  know 
that  you  are  happy,  and  that  is  the  chief  thing  :  but, 
my  dear  Agnes,  a  mother's  heart  is  not  at  all  times  to 
be  quieted  by  reason,  and  has  its  own  rights  too.  Only 
it  must  not  be  intractable  ;  that  it  should  not  be  so  is, 
in  quiet  hours,  my  daily  study.  As  long  as  you  were 
with  me,  I  was  wholly  yours — heart  and  soul,  mind 
and  body,  hands  and  feet ;  if  you  have  no  longer  need 
of  my  hands  and  feet,  you  may  yet  find  my  affection 
useful,  for  in  this  consists  the  glory  and  excellency  of 
love,  that  if  we  are  only  pure,  it  can  never  hurt  us ;  of 
its  giving  and  receiving  there  is  no  end  here,  and  it 
endures  throughout  eternity." 


318  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

"  That  you  still  think  of  us  with  warm  affection  and 
attachment,  and  would  gladly  be  with  us,  I  find  quite 
natural,"  she  writes  in  another  letter  ;  "  you  could  not 
love  your  William  so  well  if  you  could  forget  us.  I  am 
fully  persuaded  tliat  I  love  you  as  truly  and  fondly  as 
William  does,  and  have  done  so  for  twenty  years  ;  and 
thus  it  is  but  just  that  you  should  continue  to  love  me 
for  at  least  twenty  years,  and  what  will  be  yet  better, 
my  dear,  long-loved  Agnes, — forever.  Preserve  then 
your  affection  for  us  in  all  its  fervor,  it  is  quite  con- 
sistent with  that  to  your  dear  William.  The  soul  is 
so  constituted,  that,  while  we  are  here  below,  wishing 
and  yearning  are  not  only  compatible  with  our  happi- 
ness, but  our  best  and  proper  happiness  is  only  realized 
when  this  wishing  and  yearning  are  directed  towards 
the  best  things.'' 

"  To-morrow  is  our  wedding-day,''  writes  Caroline, 
in  a  letter  on  the  1st  of  August ;  "  it  is  the  first  on 
which  I  have  had  to  look  back  on  gifts  resigned.  Do 
you  enjoy  the  onward  road,  it  also  has  its  cares  and 
troubles  ;  but,'  as  I  find  by  experience,  the  retrospect 
is  harder  and  more  painful.  Youth  has  its  dangers, 
but  those  of  age  are,  I  fear,  greater  and  more  trying, 
though,  thank  Heaven,  I  observe  this  rather  in  others 
than  in  myself,  and  in  God's  name  I  also  am  going 
forward.  Dear  Agnes,  love  me  still,  and  keep  as  close 
to  me  as  you  can.  My  dear  bridegroom  is  quite  well 
and  cheerful,  and  as  dear  to  me  now  as  he  was  twenty 
years  ago.  I  never  believed  it  possible  that  affection 
could  continue  so  uninterruptedly  for  twenty-one  years 
— and  how  much  longer  it  will  continue  is  not  for  me 
to  say." 

Again,  on  the  following  day, — "  The  children  had 


MARRIAGE  OF  THE  ELDEST  DAUGHTER.     319 

adorned  our  breakfast-table  with  flowers  and  wedding 
garlands  :  we  sat  in  a  bower  of  leafy  green,  and  exam- 
ined the  little  presents  that  your  sisters  had  prepared 
for  us.  It  appears  very  strange  to  me  that  you  should 
be  wandering  about  the  world  without  me  on  this 
day,  and  that  I  should  not  know  whether  you  are  at 
Schwarzburg  or  Rudolfstadt,  or  where  you  are." 

But  it  was  not  only  the  joyful  anniversaries  that 
Caroline  loved  to  devote  to  correspondence  with  her 
absent  daughter  ;  those  consecrated  by  sad  remem- 
brance were  also  spent  in  the  same  way.  "  It  is  six 
years  to-day  since  ray  angel  Bernard  was  born,"  she 
writes  on  the  27th  September,  "  and  his  earthly  body 
is  already  so  decayed,  that  I  can  now  see  only  his  dear, 
bright  eye,  which,  when  I  was  in  trouble,  used  to  revive 
and  strengthen  me,  and  renew  my  confidence  and  joy 
in  the  Lord.  You  also  recollect  liow  he  rejoiced  and 
comforted  us  all  at  Ascliau,  and  how  kindly,  and  pleas- 
antly, and  lovingly  he  looked  on  us  all.  Would  that, 
though  unseen  by  me,  he  still  looked  upon  me,  and 
raised  my  soul  to  God  !  The  angel-child  must  be  able, 
and  he  is  certainly  willing,  to  do  even  more  for  us 
now.  How  gladly  I  would  know  more  about  the 
nature  of  the  happiness  of  my  beloved,  departed  chil- 
dren !  God  does  indeed  allow  us  to  apprehend  it  in 
the  depths  of  our  hearts,  as  something  transcending 
thought ;  but  whenever  I  would  realize  this  presenti- 
ment of  the  heart  in  my  understanding,  it  dissolves  and 
vanishes  altogether  ;  and  yet,  I  cannot  help  thinking, 
though  I  know  that  it  is  in  vain,  and  that  on  this,  as 
on  all  other  great  questions,  we  can  do  nothing  more 
in  this  world  than  keep  alive  in  ourselves  the  yearning 
and   longing  after  tnitli,  not  allowing  it  to  be  dis- 


320  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

turbed  and  destroyed  by  external  influences  of  any 
kind." 

A  new  source  of  happiness  was  opened  to  Caroline 
in  the  prospect  of  becoming  a  grandmother.  "  I  have 
just  received  your  letter,  dear  children,  and  am  be- 
yond measure  delighted,  affected,  and  thankful.  You 
can  have  no  idea  of  the  happiness  that,  if  it  please 
God,  is  awaiting  you,  neither  can  I  explain  it  to  you, 
although  for  twenty  years  my  heart  has  been  filled 
with  it.  Rejoice,  and  again  I  say  rejoice,  and  pray  to 
God  for  His  blessing.  If  I  could  but  tell  you  something 
of  your  coming  joys, — but  they  are  inconceivable  and 
unspeakable,  and  come  directly  from  God  Himself  j  may 
He  impart  them  in  richest  measure  ! " 

The  succeeding  letters  express  the  tenderest  maternal 
sympathy  with  the  hopes  and  fears  of  her  daughter ; 
but  in  all,  the  call  to  gratitude  and  joy  is  paramount. 
Thus  towards  the  end  of  1818  she  wrote — "Every  one 
has,  doubtless,  reason  both  for  hope  and  fear,  in  regard 
to  the  New- Year,  but  God  helps  us  all  through.  Fare- 
well, dear  Agnes,  and  don't  forget  your  grandfather's 
prescription  for  the  eve  of  New-Year's  Day,  viz. :  to 
sit  down  upon  a  stone  and  pray : — you  have  much  to 
remember  and  to  hope  for  ;  but  you  must  spare  us,  too, 
a  thought  from  the  depths  of  your  heart." 

*'  A  happy,  happy  Christmas  may  God  give  you,  dear 
children,"  so  wrote  Caroline,  on  dispatching  a  small 
Christmas  box  ; — "  if  you  have  but  a  tenth  part  of  the 
delight  in  unpacking  which  the  children  have  had  in 
packing  it,  you  will  be  content.  The  three  little  ones 
have  been  especially  busy,  and  the  pleasure  of  giving 
and  sending  has  often  ended  in  tears  because  there  was 
nothing  more  to  give.     Remember  that  your  gratilica- 


MARRIAGE   OF   THE   ELDEST   DAUGHTER.  321 

tion  is  to  equal  theirs,  or  we  shall  not  be  satisfied.  The 
box  will  reach  you  at  six  o'clock,  and  then,  assuredly, 
you  will  think  of  us ;  and  I,  too,  shall  think  of  you, 
dear  Agnes  :  you  seem  still  a  part  of  myself ;  and 
though  I  weep,  I  cannot  tell  whether  they  are  tears  of 
joy  or  of  sorrow.  The  Christmas  prayer  which  I  put 
up  from  my  inmost  heart  for  you,  last  year,  is  more 
than  fulfilled  ;  let  us  then,  now  again,  thank  God,  and 
place  ourselves,  and  those  who  are  near  and  dear  to 
us,  with  confidence  and  faith  in  His  arms,  and  rejoice. 
You  must  also  help  us  to  thank  Him  ;  let  us  with  united 
voice  sing,  '  Oh,  for  a  thousand  tongues,'  &c.  That 
sweet  hymn  always  recurs  to  me  when  I  know  not 
what  to  say  in  reviewing  the  past  one -and -twenty 
years." 

"  Perthes  is  a  true  child  at  Christmas  time,"  says 
Caroline,  a  few  days  later,  in  her  account  of  Christmas 
eve  ;  ''  my  heart  is  stirred  afresh  by  him  every  year  at 
that  season.  It  is  three-and-twenty  years  since  I  first 
felt  this,  and  my  conviction,  that  one  who  could  take 
such  child-like  delight  in  the  Christmas  tree  must  have 
a  pure  and  simple  heart,  has  not  been  falsified.  This 
was  the  impression  that  my  heart  received  on  that 
evening,  when  I,  properly  speaking,  first  saw  him  ;  that, 
indeed,  was  the  day  of  my  real  betrothal.  I  can  never 
thank  God  enough  for  his  afi'ection.  When,  yesterday 
evening,  at  six  o'clock,  we  sat  down  to  table,  Perthes 
was  so  wearied  and  depressed,  that  it  made  us  sad  to 
see  him,  but  when  the  tree  was  lighted,  he  became  as 
lively  and  as  frolicsome  as  the  youngest  child." 

At  Easter  Caroline  writes,  "  God  give  you  a  joy- 
ous festival — and  why  should  He  not?  since  He  has 
made  every  day  a  festival  by  the  deep  and  abiding 


322  '  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

love  that  He  has  put  into  your  heart.  That  He  can 
give  us  nothing  better  even  in  eternity  is  certain  ;  only 
we  cannot  yet  understand  the  greatness  of  our  blessed- 
ness, because  we  know  so  little  at  present  of  pure  love 
to  God,  althougli  we  have  some  foretaste  of  it  in  the 
delight  we  feel  in  the  outgoings  of  our  feeble  love  to- 
wards our  fellow-creatures.  The  children  are  all  gone 
out,  and  I  meant  to  read  a  sermon  of  Taulerus,  but 
you  and  William,  your  happiness  and  your  hopes,  have 
stirred  my  heart  so  deeply,  that  I  have  been  unable. 
Dear  William  !  I  feel  real  joy  and  happiness  in  having 
so  nursed,  and  cherished,  and  brought  up  Agnes  for 
you  ;  may  God  grant  you  the  same  pleasure  in  your 
children  that  he  has  hitherto  given  us  in  ours.  More 
I  cannot  wish  you,  for  I  know  no  more.  I  have,  to  my 
great  deliglit,  just  opened  the  balcony  door  for  the 
first  time  this  year,  and  am  quite  transported  with  all 
that  the  sweet  spring  breathes,  and  with  all  that  it  re- 
veals to  eye  and  ear.  The  little  birds  know  not  how 
to  leave  off  singing  and  rejoicing,  and  I  would  sing 
and  rejoice  with  them." 

Ever  since  the  autumn  of  1818,  Caroline  had  cher- 
rished  the  hope  of  visiting  her  daughter  in  Gotha  in 
the  course  of  the  following  spring.  Accordingly,  on 
the  23d  of  April,  Perthes  and  Caroline,  with  four  chil- 
dren, set  out  from  Hamburgh,  committing  their  second 
son  to  the  charge  of  his  grandmother  in  Wandsbeck, 
and  leaving  the  eldest  in  charge  of  the  house. 

"  We  arrived  safe,  and  well,  and  happy,"  wrote 
Caroline  from  Gotha  ;  "  the  journey  was  bitterly  cold, 
but  our  inward  joy  kept  us  so  warm,  that  the  external 
cold  could  not  touch  us.  The  postilions  were  all  good 
and  steady  except  one,  who  had  a  drop  in  his  head  ; 


MARRIAGE  OF  THE  ELDEST  DAUGHTER.     323 

but  just  as  we  were  beginning  to  be  uneasy,  we  met 
another  posting  carriage,  and  by  changing  horses  got 
quit  of  liim.  Both  the  little  ones  behaved  very  well, 
and  by  their  merriment  and  their  lively  observation  of 
all  that  they  saw  and  heard,  and  their  surprise  at 
the  sight  of  mountains,  trees,  and  rocks,  greatly  in- 
creased our  pleasure,  although  the  charge  of  such 
young  travellers  was  not  without  inconvenience  :  I  was 
obliged  to  hold  one  in  each  arm  during  the  whole 
night,  to  keep  them  from  the  cold,  and  soften  the  jolt- 
ing of  the  carriage.  When  we  came  near  Gotha,  I 
could  scarcely  restrain  my  feelings,  and  on  Tuesday 
the  27th  of  April,  we  arrived." 

After  Caroline's  return  to  Hamburgh  with  her  hus- 
band and  children,  in  the  beginning  of  June,  the  weeks 
she  had  spent  with  her  daughter  were  a  source  of 
grateful  remembrance.  ''  Since  I  have  seen  you  in 
your  own  house,"  she  writes,  "  I  have  lost  the  feeling 
of  entire  separation,  and  really  live  with  you  again  ; 
and  if  your  heart  yearn  after  me,  you  will  often  find 
me.  The  happy  remembrance  of  the  days  that  I  have 
spent  with  you  so  lately  prevails  even  over  thp  p^jn  pf 
separation." 

A  year  of  trouble  and  disquietude  of  all  sorts 
awaited  Caroline  on  her  return  fi'om  Gotha  ;  she  had 
found  her  second  son  Clement  seriously  ill  in  Ham- 
burgh, and  it  was  many  months  before  her  anxiety  on 
his  account  was  in  any  degree  abated.  To  her  eldest 
son  Matthias,  who  was  passing  the  holidays  at  Gotha, 
she  wrote  at  this  time, — "  Gaze,  not  to  satiety,  but  till 
you  are  hungry,  on  the  beauties  of  nature  ;  salute  the 
rocks  at  Schwarzburg,  and  go  before  noon  to  the 
Trippstein,  when  the  sun  shines  aslant   throi]gli  the 


324  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

firs,  and  reflect  that  your  father  and  I  have  also  been 
there,  have  thanked  God  and  rejoiced.  In  all  my  pres- 
ent sorrow,  the  remembrance  of  that  sweet  spot  can 
cheer  and  solace  me  ;  in  such  a  place  one  can  rise 
higher,  at  least  more  easily,  than  in  one's  own  room. 
As  for  the  hours  of  sore  and  burning  trial,  who  knows 
and  who  can  reckon  the  benefit  we  derive  from  them  ! 
They  are  not  appointed  in  vain." 

On  the  14th  of  August,  in  the  midst  of  her  anxiety 
for  her  sick  son,  the  news  of  the  birth  of  her  first 
grandchild  reached  her,  and  Caroline  wrote, — "  Oh 
that  I  had  a  thousand  tongues,  and  a  thousand  voices 
that  might  strive  together  in  praising  God  for  what 
He  has  done  for  you !  May  God  Himself  help  me  to 
thank  Him,  that  He  has  heard  my  prayer :  I  have 
always  the  feeling  that  we  can  pray  fervently  much 
longer  than  we  can  praise  ;  so  that  our  thanksgivings 
are  all  too  short  compared  with  our  supplications.  If 
I  could  escape  from  the  anxiety  and  sorrow  which  sur- 
round me,  I  should  be  still  nearer  to  you  ;  but  my 
heart  is  divided  between  joy  and  sadness,  and  a  divided 
heart  brings  labor  and  unrest.  You  will  be  astonished 
to  find  in  how  many  new  and  pleasurable  aspects  the 
child  will  appear  to  you,  if  God  grant  His  blos^^ing, — 
and  this  He  certainly  never  denies  to  those  who  hon- 
estly seek  it.  Pray  then,  that  God  may  send  His 
angel  to  guide  your  little  one  through  the  joys  and 
sorrows  of  life,  and  to  be  very  near  him  in  the  time  of 
trial  and  the  hour  of  death." 


XXIX. 

flue  p»rw0ie  0I  tto  $u$ni  §m$1&Ux. 

CARCELY  was  Caroline's  anxiety  for  her  in- 
valid son  removed,  when  her  repose  was  again 
interrupted  by  a  proposal  for  the  hand  of  her 
second  daughter,  Louisa,  who  had  remained  at 
Gotha  to  nurse  her  sister.  The  young  suitor, 
Agricola,  was  scarcely  known  to  her,  and  the 
decision  was  difficult. 
"  How  could  we  commit  so  great  a  charge,"  wrote 
Caroline,  "  to  one  whom  we  know  not  ? — it  is  always  a 
trial  to  give  up  a  beloved  child  to  any  one,  and  we  are 
now  called  on  to  do  it  to  a  stranger.  I  know  not 
where  to  find  counsel  or  help  ;  it  seems  to  me  the 
greatest  trial  of  my  life." 

The  confidence  manifested  by  the  daughter  induced 
the  parents  to  leave  the  decision  to  her  alone :  and 
when  Agricola  became  known  to  them  through  his 
letters,  all  anxiety  vanished. 

In  the  middle  of  November,  1819,  Louisa  returned 
to  Hamburgh  for  the  winter.  "  We  are  anticipating, '^ 
wrote  Caroline,  "  a  right  pleasant  winter  with  our  dear 
happy  bride.'' 

The  anticipation  was  realized.  The  invalid  son 
meanwhile  had  made  such  progress,  that  he  was  able 
to  be  removed  to  Wandsbeck  for  some  months  for 

(326) 


326  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

change  of  air.  Caroline's  letters  at  this  time  are  filled 
again  with  joy  and  thankfulness  ;  but  the  present  was 
sometimes  overcast  by  the  prospect  of  parting,  not 
only  with  the  daughter,  but  also  with  the  eldest  son, 
who  was  to  enter  the  University  at  Easter. 

''  It  often  distresses  me  greatly,"  wrote  Caroline, 
"  that  my  young  Louisa  is  so  early  called  upon  to  play 
an  independent  part,  and  to  do  without  me  ;  still  I 
have  a  firm  confidence  in  her  happiness.  Young  people 
who  are  so  sincerely  attached,  and  who  express  their 
afi'ection  so  simply  and  naturally  as  these  two,  are 
doubtless  sound  at  heart." 

*'  The  welcome  New  Year,"  she  wrote  in  the  end  of 
December,  1819,  "  lies  heavy  on  my  heart,  since  it  is  to 
separate  me  from  two  of  my  beloved  children.  I  know 
that  I  ought  not  to  be  so,  yet  I  am  quite  troubled  and 
oppressed.  Rejoice  in  your  sweet  infant  ;  the  joy  will 
indeed  be  of  a  nobler  kind  when  the  fondling  is  over, 
but  never  wish  a  day  away  ;  enjoy  that  blessed  season 
of  maternity  during  which  you  have  your  child  in  your 
arms,  and  it  cannot  do  without  you,  but  stretches  out 
its  little  arms,  and  lovingly  embraces  you." 

"  To-day,"  she  writes  again  soon  afterwards, "  Louisa's 
trousseau  is  packed  up.  God  loveth  a  cheerful  giver  : 
He  certainly  loves  Perthes,  then  ;  for  he  gives  almost 
too  freely,  and  too  cheerfully,  what  it  has  cost  him  so 
much  to  gather.  Life  is  very  serious  to  me  now  ;  the 
past  and  the  future  stir  my  soul,  but  my  constant 
comfort  is  in  the  lively  and  steadfast  feeling  that  God 
guides  and  leads  us  for  our  good  ;  only  we  should  not 
invade  His  office  and  cater  for  ourselves  :  but  this  I 
have  never  consciously  done,  at  least  never  desired  to 
do.'' 


MARRIAGE   OF  THE   SECOND   DAUGHTER.  827 

At  the  beginning  of  April,  1820,  both  children  left 
the  paternal  roof,  the  son  for  the  university,  and  a  week 
later,  the  young  couple,  who  had  been  married  on  the 
12th  of  April,  for  Gotha,  accompanied  by  Perthes,  and 
his  son  Clement. 

"I  could  not  write  yesterday,"  says  Caroline,  "the 
tumult  in  my  soul  was  so  great  that  I  could  not  com- 
mand my  feelings  sufficiently.  Dear  Agnes,  what  a 
powerful  thing  is  a  mother's  heart ;  yes,  I  believe  that 
the  love  of  parents  is  stronger  than  the  love  of  children ; 
what  wishes,  hopes,  fears,  and  anxieties,  stir  within 
me  !  A  steadfast  feeling  of  the  presence  of  God  sup- 
ported me  at  the  parting,  and  lightened  that  sad  hour  ; 
and  while  my  heart  is  sorrowful,  I  know  and  feel  that 
all  is  right,  and  that  we  have  much  cause  for  thankful- 
ness ;  what  good  would  the  outward  presence  of  my 
children  do  me  if  their  hearts  were  not  with  me  ?  If 
here  below  we  must  part  and  give  up,  it  is  only  that 
we  may  learn  to  submit  our  wills,  and  set  forward  on 
the  road  to  our  proper  home." 

Perthes  had  passed  some  weeks  in  Leipzig,  and  on 
his  return  to  Hamburgh  had  quite  unexpectedly 
brought  his  eldest  daughter  and  his  little  grandchild 
from  Gotha  with  him.  "  As  soon  as  I  heard  the  post- 
horn,''  wrote  Caroline,  "  I  flew  to  the  door,  and  when 
it  was  opened  Perthes  put  the  little  prattling  healthy 
child  into  my  arms  ;  my  Agnes  was  also  there,  and  it 
was  a  joyful  hour  indeed.  For  a  long  while  I  could 
not  compose  myself,  and  forgot  that  Perthes  was  there 
too,  which  afterwards  vexed  me  much." 

"  You  may  imagine,"  she  writes  a  few  days  later, 
"  how  happy  I  am  with  my  child  and  grandchild  !  I 
have  not  yet  settled  down  into  quiet  enjoyment,  my 


328  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

delight  is  so  tumultuous.  God  be  praised  for  awarding 
me  so  much !"  After  a  stay  of  five  weeks  Agnes 
returned  home  with  her  husband. 

Caroline  had  now  three  absent  children,  each  of 
whom  expected  letters  from  her  regularl}^  and  they 
were  seldom  disappointed  ;  she  kept  up  a  constant 
correspondence  with  her  second  daughter  during  the 
honey-moon,  and  the  transition  period  between  it  and 
the  settled  repose  of  matrimonial  life.  "  That  you  are 
so  happy  and  contented  with  your  Agricola  is  only 
what  I  expected,  and  I  hope  better  and  greater  things 
still  for  you,  for  these  are  only  gilded  weeks  which, 
however,  I  do  not  grudge  you  ;  but  it  requires  many  a 
serious  hour,  and  many  an  earnest  wish  witli  and  for 
each  other,  before  real  happiness  and  confidence  are 
established.  Genuine  afi'ection  is  the  wa}^  to  this  end  ; 
perfect  openness  towards  each  other,  at  all  times,  and  in 
all  things,  is  also  a  great  help.  Strive  to  have  common 
objects  of  pursuit,  and  to  support  each  other,  when 
either  seems  ready  to  faint,  and  let  your  first  aim  be, 
to  draw  nearer  to  God,  and  to  assist  each  other  in 
becoming  more  like  Him.  Do  not  be  disturbed  by 
occasional  differences  of  opinion  with  regard  to  the 
highest  things,  only  be  true  to  each  other,  and  seek 
only  the  truth  ;  you  will  thus,  thougli  by  devious  paths, 
be  sure  to  meet  again.  I  know  that  I  have  always 
been  in  earnest,  and  that  I  often  have  been  in  difficul- 
ties, but  I  also  know,  that,  at  last,  I  have  always 
reached  the  same  goal  witli  my  beloved  Perthes — the 
how  and  when  do  not  concern  others,  and  no  one  has 
any  right  to  inquire." 

"  You  can  well  believe,"  wrote  Caroline  soon  after- 
wards, "  that  I  enjoy  nothing  more  truly  than  what 


MARRIAGE   OP  THE   SECOND    DAUGHTER.  329 

you  tell  me  of  your  happy  affection.  But  the  human 
heart  is  a  strange  thing  ;  when  you  wrote  lately  that 
you  could  not  understand  how  you  could  have  hitherto 
been  happy  without  your  Agricola,  I  felt  as  if  you  had 
done  me  an  injury.  I  am,  at  every  moment,  conscious 
of  loving  you  with  my  whole  soul,  of  hoping  and 
wishing  for  you,  and  of  doing  you  all  the  good  I  can  ; 
more  than  this  I  cannot  do,  neither  can  your  husband  ; 
why,  then,  should  you  not  liave  been  happy  with  me? 
Can  you  tell  me  ?  Agricola  has  loved  you  for  only 
one  year,  wliile  I  have  loved  you  for  eighteen,  and  with 
all  my  heart.  Is  not  this,  then,  very  wrong  of  you, 
and  can  you  say  that  it  is  not  wrong  ?  I  know  not 
what  to  reply  except  that  it  was  just  so  with  me  when 
I  was  married  to  Perthes,  and  that  I  thank  God  that 
you  now  cause  me  the  same  grief  which  I  then  caused 
my  parents." 

Hours  of  home-sickness  were  not  wanting  to  the 
absent  daughter.  "  You  cannot  wish  yourself  by  my 
side,"  wrote  Caroline,  "  so  much  as  I  wish  myself  by 
yours.  But  remember  one  thing,  would  I  not  often  be 
in  the  way  when  Agricola  comes  home?  Can  you 
deny  this  ?  I  see  you  blushing  ;  but  do  not  blush,  and 
do  not  vex  yourself  about  it,  my  dear  Louisa  ;  I  am 
contented,  and  can  thank  God  that  I  am  now  only 
secondary  with  you,  while  I  love  you  as  well  as  if  I 
had  the  first  place  in  your  heart." 

"That  you  find  it  hard  to  bear  the  loneliness,  and 
the  distance  from  us,  especially  when  Agricola  is  not 
witli  you,  I  can  very  well  understand,"  she  wrote. 
"  1  myself,  when  the  children  are  gone  out  for  a  half 
holiday,  am  as  stupid  and  dull  as  an  owl  by  daylight, 
but  one  must  not  yield  to  this,  which  happens,  more  or 


330  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

less,  to  all  young  wives.  The  best  relief  is  work, 
engaged  in  with  interest  and  diligence  ;  work,  then, 
constantly  and  diligently,  at  something  or  other,  for 
idleness  is  the  devil's  snare  for  small  and  great,  says 
your  grandfather,  and  he  says  true.  I  do  not  mean 
that  there  is  anything  wrong  in  your  longing  after  us 
when  Agricola  is  absent,  my  own  dear  child,  only  you 
must  strive  to  retain  your  composure  ;  and  yet,  if  you 
should  be  overcome  by  filial  yearning,  Agricola  will 
not  be  angry  with  you.  You  are  quite  right  to  tell 
him  everything  that  you  think  and  feel  at  all  times  ; 
where  truth  and  affection  abide,  joy  and  happiness  are 
not  long  absent." 

And  again  :  "  Is  it  not  true  that  the  life  of  a  house- 
keeper is  more  stirring  than  that  of  a  young  girl  at 
home  ?  It  is  quite  right  that  you  should  take  pleasure 
in  your  little  household  affairs,  and  enjoy  your  clean 
pretty  house  ;  and  I  can  see  you,  in  the  afternoons, 
looking  and  listening  for  your  husband,  when  you 
expect  him  from  the  courts.  How  gladly  would  I 
sometimes  be  behind  the  door  when  he  comes  in ! 
Fancy  me  on  Saturdays  looking  through  your  rooms, 
your  presses,  and  your  shelves,  and  praising  you  when 
all  is  neat  and  in  order." 

And  in  another  letter  : — "  I  delight  to  find  that  you 
take  pleasure  in  all  the  little  matters  of  your  house- 
keeping ;  great  events  do  not  often  come  under  our 
management,  but  if  we  are  observant  and  watchful, 
we  find  our  appointed  work,  and  we  have  more  need 
to  pray  for  a  heart  to  enjoy  our  blessings,  than  for  a 
larger  share  of  them." — "  You  are  quite  right,  my  dear 
Louisa,  to  visit  your  neighbors  occasionally,  but  it  is 
still  better  that  you  prefer  staying  at  home.     God 


MARRIAGE   OF   THE   BECOND    DAUGHTER.  331 

grant  that  you  may  ever  find  the  same  pleasure  in  your 
pretty  room." 

In  order  to  sympathize  fully  with  her  daughter's  in- 
terests, Caroline  desired  to  receive  more  detailed  ac- 
counts of  her  daily  life  than  Louisa  was  accustomed  to 
give.  "  You  have  not  yet  got  into  the  proper  way  of 
writing,  you  tell  me  only  of  things  in  general,  and  great 
events,  but,  my  dear  child,  I  want  to  know  the  most 
minute  particulars  ;  you  always  tell  me  how  dearly  you 
love  Agricola,  but  I  should  also  like  to  know  why  you 
love  him.  We  understand  a  man's  character  best  from 
his  conduct  in  little  circumstances  and  in  daily  life. 
Don't  always  seek  for  something  of  importance  to 
write  ;  you  are  writing  for  my  motherly  heart,  to 
which  everything  is  important  that  brings  you  more 
vividly  before  me.  Write,  then,  without  too  much 
consideration,  about  trifles  and  anything  whatever  ; 
great  events  constitute  the  life,  but  trifles,  the  interest 
of  a  correspondence.  You  know  that  Agnes  fills  her 
letters  with  cabbages  and  turnips,  and  so  gives  me  un- 
speakable pleasure.  Man,  here  below,  consists  of  two 
parts,  and  thus,  petty  things,  not  paltry,  recollect,  are 
part  of  our  existence." 

Again  : — "  I  am  sorry  that  you  tore  up  your  letter 
because  it  was  not  written  in  a  happy  mood  ;  next 
time  send  it  me  just  as  it  is.  I  know  as  well  as  you 
do,  that  the  heart  is  not  always  in  the  same  frame  ; 
we  should,  indeed,  endeavor  to  be  at  all  times  master 
of  ourselves,  but  it  takes  a  good  many  trials  before  we 
attain  to  this  ;  and  I  remember  how  many  uneasy 
moods  and  moments  I  myself  had  to  pass  through." 

When,  in  the  course  of  time,  the  daughter  made 
that  discovery  which  every  young  wife  has  to  make 


332  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

for  herself,  viz.,  that  even  iii  her  new  position,  the 
earnestness  of  life  is  not  wanting,  Caroline  wrote, — 
"  Yes,  dear  child,  God's  gift  of  true  love  grows  and 
improves  under  all  circumstances,  and  although  we 
would  gladly  escape  the  sweat  of  the  brow,  we  soon 
see  that  it  is  uecessar}- ,  and  a  part  of  our  earthly  dis- 
cipline ;  all  men  have  felt,  that  as  life  brings  us  great- 
er happiness,  it  also  becomes  more  earnest.  Thank 
your  Agricola  witli  all  your  heart  for  sharing  his 
cares  with  you,  rather  tlian  concealing  them  in  order 
to  spare  you.  If  a  wife  cannot  actually  remove,  she 
can  often  lighten  care,  and  sweet  and  bitter  should  be 
shared  by  man  and  wife.  I  might  indeed  desire  noth- 
ing but  joy  and  happiness  for  you,  but  I  do  not  at  all 
despair  about  you. 

"  Men's  characters  differ  greatly,  and  with  them 
God's  means  of  promoting  their  welfare.  Your  father 
and  I  had  many  struggles,  which  were  often  very 
painful  ;  but  w4ien  I  look  back,  I  see  clearly  that  all 
served  to  unite  us,  and  make  us  better  acquainted  with 
each  other,  and  that  is  a  result  which  can  never  be 
bought  too  dear." 

"  You  are  quite  right,  dear  Louisa,  to  be  on  your 
guard  against"  all  sources  of  irritation.  It  is  great  and 
noble  to  attain  to  a  state  of  mind  which  does  not 
allov/  affection  to  be  saddened  or  interrupted  by 
the  trifles  of  daily  life.  A  strong  determination 
against  this  must  be  rooted  in  the  heart ;  but  I  have 
learnt  from  good  old  Frangois  de  Sales,  and  from  ex- 
perience, that  there  are  many  things  which,  though 
they  are  not  to  be  lightly  regarded,  must  be  lightly 
handled.  We  must  not  oppose  an  irritable  tendency 
by  force,  otherwise  the  irritation  may  only  change  its 


MARRIAGE   OF   THE   SECOND    DAUGHTER.  333 

form.  To  oppose  one's  own  irritability  with  greater 
irritability,  is  disturbing  to  others,  and  may  embitter 
our  own  hearts,  but  I  am  not  at  all  anxious  about  you  ; 
you  never  had  a  fretful  disposition,  and  a  loving  heart 
is  proof  against  it ;  but  you  cannot  have  recourse  to 
any  one  who  will  understand  you  so  well  as  I  do,  for 
I  have  felt  it  all  myself." 

In  November,  1820,  her  daughter  was  severely  tried 
by  the  illness  of  her  husband,  who  was  in  great  dan- 
ger for  many  weeks  from  nervous  fever,  and  had  a 
very  slow  recovery. 

"  Your  father  and  I  think  of  you  day  and  night,'' 
wrote  Caroline,  when  the  crisis  was  over :  "  we  feel 
but  too  deeply  how  painful  it  is  to  have  a  child  whom 
Ave  cannot  soothe  and  make  happy.  These  have  been 
very  sad  days  for  us  ;  it  was  quite  a  new  thought  to 
me  that  I  might  have  my  own  dear  child  in  my  house 
and  in  my  arms,  and  yet  that  all  my  affection  could 
neither  satisfy  nor  comfort  her." 

Soon  afterwards  she  wrote, — "  Let  us  first  thank 
God  for  having  preserved  your  Agricola,  and  having 
given  you  trust  and  confidence  in  time  of  need,  and 
then  pray  for  his  further  recovery.  We  need  neither 
be  ashamed  nor  vexed  that  we  are  always  ready  to, 
ask  ;  God  knows  better  than  we  do  that  we  can  do 
nothing  without  Him." 

AVhen  the  invalid  was  beginning  to  recover  his 
strength,  she  wrote, — "  We  no  longer  feel  the  burden, 
we  only  remember  it,  and  now  rejoice  with  you  in  the 
coming  spring,  and  the  warm  sunbeams  ;  although  the 
spring-time  of  youtli  has  passed  for  us,  not  so,  thank 
God,  the  eternal  spring,  which  still  grows  fresher  as 
we  grow  older.    Let  your  heart  beat  in  sympathy  with 


334  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

the  renewed  spring-time  of  nature,  which  makes  us 
young,  and  fresh,  and  gladsome,  like  the  little  varie- 
gated tom-tits  in  the  oak  tree  behind  my  window.  Ev- 
er rejoice  in  the  spring  and  in  life,  dear  Agricola,  and 
be  thankful  that  you  are  preserved  to  my  Louisa  and 
to  us  all." 


XXX 


HILE  the  correspondence  with  the  married 
^  daughters  devolved  mainly  on  the  mother, 
Perthes  adding  now  and  then  a  kind  word 
on  special  occasions,  that  with  the  eldest 
son,  Matthias,  who  had  been  studying  theol- 
ogy at  the  University  of  Tubingen  since 
Easter,  1820,  was  kept  up  alike  by  both  par- 
ents. The  doubts  and  difficulties  suggested  to  the  son 
by  the  study  of  theology,  were  submitted  to  the  father. 
Perthes  always  sympathized  with  his  son's  inexperi- 
ence, and  endeavored  to  allay  his  misgivings. 

"  I  have  been  reading  over  many  of  your  letters  a 
second  time,"  he  once  wrote,  "  and  am  more  and  more 
convinced  that  it  would  not  be  well  to  answer  your 
earnest  communications  in  detail  by  a  discussion  of 
your  views.  In  the  case  of  a  striving,  energetic  youth 
like  yourself,  months  are  more  fruitful  than  years  are 
to  an  older  man  ;  the  scales  are  moving  up  and  down, 
and  so  it  should  be.  One  thing  rectifies  another  in  the 
course  of  the  student's  own  hearty  efforts,  which  God 
always  blesses.  Tins  is  better  for  you  than  listening 
to  an  old  man's  experience,  which  must  always  be  some- 

(335) 


336  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

what  strange,  even  though  it  be  your  own  fatlier's." — 
'*I  cannot  and  dare  not  enter  into  the  subjects  which 
you  mention.  It  would  ill  become  the  man  whose 
mind  is  matured  by  age,  and  whose  intellectual  train- 
ing has  been  so  different,  to  set  bounds  which  might 
impede  the  young  theologian  in  his  career  ;  when  your 
advancing  age  brings  you  nearer  to  my  own,  we  shall 
readily  understand  one  another.  You  say,  *  The  God 
of  the  many  does  not  satisfy  my  yearnings,  I  want  one 
to  whom  I  can  put  up  my  petitions  in  the  hope  that  He 
will  be  moved  by  my  humility  to  grant  me  health  and 
strength.'  These  are  your  own  words  ;  keep  to  them, 
my  dear  son." 

In  another  letter,  Perthes  explained  his  views  of  the 
difference  between  youth  and  age  more  fully  : — "  Be- 
tween youth  and  age  there  is  a  wall  of  partition,  which 
a  man  does  not  observe  till  he  has  passed  it.  The 
transition  is  generally  made  in  middle  life,  but  passes 
unnoticed  amid  the  necessary  cares  and  labors  of  one's 
calling.  All  at  once  man  finds  himself  upon  an  emi- 
nence, and  sees  much  that  is  varied  and  cheerful  behind 
and  beneath  him.  This  is  a  decisive  moment  for  the 
soul,  for  now  arises  the  question,  whether  he  shall  give 
himself  entirely  to  God,  and  turn  away  from  the  world, 
not  with  contempt, — for  it  has  been  his  training  school, 
but  with  a  glad  contentedness  ;  or,  whether  he  shall 
again  mingle  with  the  many  things  that  should  be  left 
behind,  and  thus  become  not  only  a  transgressor,  but 
a  laughing-stock  in  the  eyes  of  superior  intelligences. 
Generally,  when  a  man  has  passed  through  the  season 
of  wayward  minority,  and  stands  erect  in  manhood,  he 
asks  himself.  What  means  all  this?  his  reply  must  be, 
All  below  is  vain  and  fleeting  ;  true  joy  and  peace  are 


DEPARTUllE   OF   THE   ELDEST  SON.  337 

only  to  be  found  in  spiritual  life.  I  have  done  many 
things  and  perliaps  well,  but  where  is  the  fruit  of  the 
blossoms  which  looked  so  promising  ?  '  The  ideals  have 
disappeared^^  but  not  the  faculty  of  labor  ;  and  there- 
fore, clothed  with  humility,  '  forwards,'  I  say,  to  suffer 
and  to  do.  This  is  to  become  a  master  in  the  business 
of  life  ;  but  it  is  vain  to  expect  that  this  can  be  attain- 
ed without  passing  through  an  apprenticeship  and  the 
Wanderjahre,  Here  it  is  tliat  so  many  well-disposed 
youths  of  the  present  day  make  shipwreck.  They  af- 
fect a  simplicity,  plainness,  and  stoutness  of  heart, 
which  almost  look  like  the  repose  and  dignity  of  age  ; 
they  harden  their  bodies,  adopt  severity  of  manners, 
and  are  modern  Stoics.  But  this  is  an  unnatural  con- 
dition for  youth,  and  it  will  not  be  generally  found  a 
safe  one  :  this  contempt  of  the  world  and  of  the  true 
riches  of  human  life  soon  passes  into  repulsive  egotism 
or  sonorous  emptiness  ;  or  if  the  character  be  of  sterner 
mould,  into  inhuman  tyranny  and  wickedness. 

"  But  there  are  others  among  our  would-be  men  who, 
from  misconception  of  tlie  religious  sentiment,  would 
fain  jump  to  their  majority,  by  avoiding  all  conflict 
with  the  world,  both  within  and  without ;  they  think 
that  they  can,  even  in  youth,  pluck  the  precocious  buds 
and  blossoms  which  themselves  have  nurtured  :  but 
this  is  vanity  :  let  us  give  ourselves  to  the  Lord  in 
humility.  God's  special  messengers  generally  pass 
through  a  discipline  in  youth  ;  many  persons,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  to  endure  the  conflict  with  their  own 
hearts  and  with  the  world,  in  later  years,  and  that  with 
aggravated  difficulty  and  peril ;  others  wither  away  in 
empty  formalism  ;  and  many  end  in  the  vilest  hypoc- 
risy.   Both  these  forms  of  premature  manhood  belong 


338  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

to  modern  times  ;  and  both  have  often  borrowed  from 
Christianity  forms  of  speech  which  they  take  for  their 
own  proper  expression.  I  would  not  have  you,  dear 
Matthias,  fasten  these  words  of  mine  on  any  individ- 
uals ;  what  I  have  said  applies  only  to  classes.  We 
should  always  take  for  granted  that  it  is  all  right  with 
the  individual,  and  that  he  has  merely  received  his 
coloring  from  the  age.  A  wonderful  admixture  of 
youth  and  age  now  prevails,  and  to  the  detriment  of 
both,  each  trespassing  on  the  other  ;  for  to  keep  clear- 
ly in  sight  the  real  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
two,  is  alike  essential  to  both  teacher  and  learner  ;  for 
the  power  of  the  Spirit  and  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ 
have  a  special  applicability  to  the  several  circumstances 
of  life.  This  is  exactly  what  we  find  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  when  Paul  adapts  himself  specially  to  every 
variety  of  character  and  place.  What  countless  errors 
and  deviations  from  the  path  of  duty  do  we  find  to  have 
arisen  in  the  present  day,  from  well-intentioned  preach- 
ers having  laid  down  general  rules  of  conduct  from  in- 
structions designed  only  for  limited  application  ! " 

Although  Perthes  always  avoided  giving  an  opinion 
on  the  theological  questions  and  religious  doubts  which 
exercised  the  mind  of  his  son,  he  did  not  object  to  point 
out  frequently,  and  with  decision,  the  course  of  con- 
duct which  a  student,  earnest  in  his  search  after  truth, 
should  adopt.  Thus,  on  one  occasion,  he  writes,  "You 
ask,  if  I  object  to  your  joining  the  Biirschenschaft. 
Since  the  Authorities  of  the  university  are  not  abso- 
lutely opposed  to  it.  and  I  am  unacquainted  with  the 
state  of  afi'airs  at  Tiibingen,  on  which  the  whole  ques- 
tion hinges,  it  might  be  better  to  leave  the  decision  to 
your  own  judgment ;  but  it  is  well  to  consider  the  ex- 


DEPARTURE   OF   THE    ELDEST   SON.  339 

penditure  of  time,  which  time  belongs  not  only  to  your- 
vSelf  but  to  your  vocation  ;  and  then  you  must  not  be 
too  sanguine  in  your  expectation  of  improving  others, 
whom,  in  your  youthful  enthusiasm,  you  hope  to  influ- 
ence. We  influence  others  only  when  the  ruling  spirit 
of  our  own  minds  is  the  stronger  ;  such  a  man,  for  in- 
stance, as  Plehwe,  whom  may  God  help,  exercises  great 
influence,  but  God  forbid  that  you  should  be  like  him. 
You  are  much  too  thoughtful,  inquiring,  and  contem- 
plative to  command  the  minds  of  young  people,  who 
are,  for  the  most  part,  under  the  influence  of  physical 
temperament.  They  will  be  led  only  by  one  who  has 
shown  his  superiority  to  them  on  their  own  ground. 
Moreover,  in  carrying  out  that  which  you  recognize  to 
be  right  and  true,  you  are  apt  to  be  decided  and  harsh, 
and  to  grow  impatient,  and  would  thus  increase  your 
diflBculties.  Nevertheless,  I  am  not,  as  you  know,  one 
to  keep  back  anybody,  even  a  child  of  my  own,  from  a 
path  which  may  lead  to  good,  merely  because  it  is  be- 
set with  dangers  :  one  thing,  however,  appears  decisive 
to  me, — as  soon  as  you  join  this  association  there  will 
arise  in  your  own  breast  a  discord  that  will  not  be 
easily  quieted  ;  for  duty  towards  God  is  not  separable 
by  a  clear  straight  line  from  the  claims  of  conventional 
honor.  He  who  will  dance  upon  the  ice  must  reckon 
upon  falls.  I  cannot,  therefore,  but  oppose  your  join- 
ing the  Biirschenschaft." 

But  the  correspondence  of  Perthes  bore  more  gen- 
erally on  the  broad  principles  connected  with  the  vo- 
cation to  which  his  son  had  devoted  himself  than  on 
details  of  this  kind.  Thus  he  once  wrote  : — "  The  dis- 
tinction which  you  make  between  a  man  of  learning, 
and  one  who  only  uses  learning  as  a  means  to  an  end, 


MO  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

appe<ars  to  me  to  be  too  subtle.  In  the  present  day 
there  are  but  few  who  value  learning  for  its  own  sake ; 
even  the  teacher  uses  science  as  a  means  of  forming 
and  influencing  other  minds.  Still  it  is  certain  that  he 
who  has  chosen  any  path  of  practical  usefulness  can 
never  have  acquired  too  much  scientific  learning  ;  and 
in  your  own  case,  if  the  path  you  have  chosen  be  fol- 
lowed out,  you  can  be  kept  from  deviation  into  by- 
paths, and  advanced  in  the  right  way  only  by  the  most 
thorough  learning.  But  do  not  misunderstand  me  ;  in 
the  present  range  of  scientific  knowledge  it  is  neces- 
sary that  a  man  circumscribe  himself,  and  rigidly  keep 
within  certain  limits,  otherwise  he  will  get  lost  in  its 
immensity,  and  prove  superficial  in  all.  It  appears  to 
me  that  the  first  requisite  for  a  theologian  is  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  Greek  and  Hebrew,  Latin  being,  of 
course,  presupposed.  If  a  young  man  be  well-grounded 
in  the  original  language  of  the  text,  he  has  won  a 
standing-ground  for  all  future  inquiry  and  investiga- 
tion. Stand  to  your  daily  work,  my  beloved  son  ; 
study  methodically  and  faithfully,  and  collect  materials  ; 
then  you  will  have  learnt  what  admits  of  investigation, 
and  what  not." 

Again  he  writes  : — "  You  are  not  satisfied  with  the 
conviction  of  the  deceitfulness  of  all  human  thought 
and  inquiry,  and  you  refuse  to  take  the  leap  that  sep- 
arates reason  from  faith  in  revelation — you  would  fain 
prove  by  scientific  research  that  revelation  is  a  reality. 
Be  it  so.  Only  recollect  that,  for  some  centuries  past, 
inquirers  and  divines  have  trodden  the  same  path,  and 
soon  found  themselves  at  the  end  of  it.  All  that  men 
could  discover  in  the  Scriptures  concerning  the  Life  of 
Christ,  is  certainly  laid  down  in  the  early  Fatherb. 


DEPARTURE   OP  THE   ELDEST   SON.  341 

Have  they  and  all  their  followers  not  been  able  to  pre- 
sent a  connected  system  that  might  satisfy  the  minds  of 
young  inquirers  like  you,  till  you  are  far  enough  ad- 
vanced in  science  to  frame  one  for  yourselves  ?  Do  you 
recognize  no  authority  in  your  teachers  when  tliey  say 
to  you,  '  This  is  found  in  Scripture,  this  our  predeces- 
sors have  found,  and  this  you  will  also  find  when  you 
are  sufficiently  advanced  in  the  study  of  languages  and 
of  history  V  It  would  be  sad  indeed,  if  learning,  which 
has  made  such  progress  since  the  Reformation,  had  not 
even  so  much  weight  as  this  with  beginners." 

When,  in  the  furtlier  pursuit  of  his  studies,  the  son 
felt  himself  more  and  more  attracted  by  philosophy, 
Perthes  wrote  to  him  : — "  Since,  as  I  see,  you  have 
betaken  yourself  to  philosophy,  I  should  wish  you  to 
put  yourself  under  the  guidance  of  some  able  thinker, 
a  good  man,  and  a  theologian,  even  tliough  of  a  dif- 
ferent religious  persuasion  from  my  own.  Would  not 
Professor  Steudel  give  you  an  hour  now  and  then  ?  It 
seems  to  me  that  you  should  at  present  pursue  the 
study  of  theology  dogmatically  and  historically  only, 
disregarding  for  a  while  its  philosophical  basis.  But 
at  the  same  time  I  would  thoroughly  study  some  one 
philosophical  system  without  reference  to  Revelation, 
and  run  through  the  history  of  philosophical  systems  ; 
when  you  have  done  this,  throw  aside  the  one  you  have 
mastered,  take  up  another,  and  so  on,  until  you  have 
found  one  that  is  tenable  ;  only  beware  of  bringing  to 
any  system  thoughts  which  it  has  not  itself  originated, 
and  reject  with  contempt  that  legerdemain  which  rep- 
resents, as  proper  to  a  system,  thoughts  which  owe 
their  origin  to  Revelation  alone.  Then  I  am  convinced 
that  you  will  soon  enough  discover  that  all  mere  phi- 


342  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

losophizing  is  vain,  and  will  gladly  avail  yourself  of 
Revelation,  if,  indeed,  any  true  religious  feeling  be 
awakened  within  you.  My  dear  son,  read  frequently 
your  mother's  letters. — be  attracted  within  the  atmos- 
phere of  her  piety, — keep  your  heart  pure,  that  it  may 
never  be  a  stranger  to  prayer  :  then  may  you  investi- 
gate freely  ;  for  prayer  and  earnest  study  will  help  you 
to  overcome  in  the  conflict  witli  doubt." 

Caroline  considered  her  son's  determination  to  pur- 
sue the  study  of  theology  as  a  matter  of  primary  im- 
portance. "  Matthias,"  she  wrote,  "  has  handled  a  hot 
iron  ;  but,  if  he  grasp  it  rightly,  he  has  achieved  a 
great  matter,  and  God  is  with  him."  But  when  he  left 
for  the  university,  her  sense  of  the  earnestness  of  his 
vocation  was  for  a  while  supplanted  by  her  regret  at 
separation  from  him.  "  How  painful  it  was  to  me," 
she  wrote  immediately  afterwards,  to  part  with  Mat- 
thias, and  to  send  him  into  the  world,  without  being 
able  to  commit  him  to  the  guidance  of  any  human 
heart  or  eye.  I  have  had  hard  work  with  myself,  but 
now  I  have  laid  down  my  arms,  and  am  at  peace." 

At  the  same  time  she  wrote  to  her  son, — "  My 
thoughts  of  you  are  disturbed  by  a  painful  feeling  of 
your  solitude  and  distance.  I  know  and  am  per- 
suaded that  in  great  and  important  matters  you 
cleave  to  God,  and  can  do  without  us  ;  still  there  are 
many  seasons  in  which  parental  love  and  sympathy  are 
a  source  of  great  happiness  and  comfort.  This  I  my- 
self feel." 

*' Your  letter  is  just  come,'^  she  writes  a  few  days 
later  ;  "  I  am  filled  with  joy  and  thankfulness  to  God, 
who  has  so  wondrously  heard  and  blessed  our  wishes 
and  desires  in  placing  you  amongst  the  truly  good. 


DEPARTURE  OF  THE  ELDEST  SON.       343 

But  you  know  not,  dear  Matthias,  how  wholly  I  have 
committed  you  to  God,  praying  that  He  may  guide,  and 
teach,  and  care  for  you  in  great  and  in  little  things. 
I  am  persuaded  that  you  are  in  His  hands,  and  am 
happier  and  more  reconciled  than  I  could  have  thought 
possible,  although  there  are  moments  when  the  yearn- 
ings of  the  motJier's  heart  prevail  over  tliese  better 
feelings.  We  liave  also  letters  from  Gotha  with  the 
best  tidings.  I  do  not  know  liow  to  make  enough  of 
the  happiness  which  God  has  given  us  on  all  sides,  and 
must  take  refuge  in  the  hymn-book." 

Again,  she  wrote,  "  When  I  am  sitting  alone  on  the 
sofa  in  the  parlor,  before  the  children  come  down  in 
the  morning,  and  your  father  has  just  gone  to  business, 
I  thank  God,  and  pray  for  you  with  all  my  heart, 
and  look  at  your  portrait  which  you  gave  me  last 
Christmas.  It  brings  you  vividly  before  me,  and  often 
it  seems  as  if  you  saw  my  thoughts,  and  responded  to 
them." 

"  Your  grandmother,  at  Wandsbeck,  will  rejoice  to 
see  that  people  love  your  grandfather,  and  you  for  his 
sake,"  wrote  Caroline  shortly  afterwards.  "  Indeed, 
dear  Matthias,  how  many  advantages  you  enjoy  that 
others  have  not !  God  will  expect  more  from  you,  and 
you  must  expect  more  from  your  own  self,  on  this  very 
account." 

In  several  other  letters  Caroline  urges  her  son  to 
realize  the  responsibilities  involved  in  his  choice  of  a 
calling.  *'  It  is  quite  clear  to  my  own  mind,"  she  writes, 
"  that  there  are  many  more  inquirers  for  counsel  and 
encouragement  than  there  were  ten  or  fifteen  years 
ago,  and  it  is  a  great  privilege  to  guide  such  ;  but  it 
is  no  easy  task.     We  get  over  many  difficulties  in  our 


344  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

own  minds,  because  the  solution  does  not  require  to  be 
put  into  words,  which  must,  however,  be  used  when  we 
would  help  another." 

In  another  letter  Caroline  writes, — "  I  was  well 
aware,  whilst  you  were  still  with  us,  that  the  time 
would  come  when  you  would  see  many  things,  both 
within  and  without,  in  a  different  light  from  us  ;  but  I 
did  not  say  this  because  I  hoped  and  believed  that  you 
were  earnest  and  truth-loving,  and  because  I  trusted 
that  God  would  give  you  right  views  and  opinions  at 
the  right  time.  Moreover,  I  know  that  man  can  im- 
part but  little  to  his  fellow-man  ;  each  must  seek  and 
find  for  himself.  I  can  say  with  truth  that  I  have  been 
for  many  years  in  trouble  and  perplexity,  from  which 
I  am  not  even  now  free.  I  have  found  that  it  is  bet- 
ter not  to  think  of  one's  self  so  much,  but  rather  to 
think  more  of  God,  and  to  long  earnestly  after  Him  ; 
and  if  we  have  fallen,  to  rise  at  once  and  go  on,  trust- 
ing in  God  :  thus  we  are  continually  advancing,  by 
God's  grace,  towards  a  peaceful  and  blessed  end.  The 
Princess  Gallitzin  once  said  to  me,  from  her  inmost 
soul,  and  with  a  deep  sense  of  her  insufficiency,  '  But  I 
will  still  will.''  This  word  often  recurs  to  me,  and 
cheers  me  when  I  am  cast  down.  We  often  become 
more  free  and  happy  when  we  look  at  ourselves  as  a 
whole,  rather  than  in  detail.  If  we  keep  all  the  good 
thoughts  that  have  occurred  to  our  minds  continually 
present,  we  shall  easily  be  led  to  think  more  highly  of 
ourselves  than  we  ought,  and  so  shall  in  reality  retro- 
grade." 

''I  am  not  distressed  to  hear,"  wrote  Caroline  at 
another  time,  "  that  you  find  yourself  unable  to  pray 
with  as  mucli  faith  and  confidence  as  you  desire,  for 


DEPARTURE  OF  THE  ELDEST  SON.       345 

we  are  at  best  but  as  reeds  moved  to  and  fro  by  the 
wind  ;  if  we  only  yearn  for  living  faith,  God  will  not 
fail  to  help  us  on,  and  all  doubts  and  discouragements 
will  eventually  cease  ;  but  it  is  almost  too  much  to 
expect  that  you  should  be  as  yet  near  to  tliis  happy 
consummation.  Socrates  thought  that  inward  peace 
was  not  to  be  attained  until  a  man  had  reached  his 
fortieth  year,  and  Confucius  has  placed  the  goal  still 
farther  forward  ;  but  I  do  wrong  in  referring  to  Soc- 
rates and  Confucius  when  we  have  Christ ;  consider 
it  then  as  unsaid.  I  always  take  comfort  from  that 
man  in  the  Gospel  to  whom  our  Lord  Christ  said,  that 
he  must  believe  before  he  could  be  helped  ;  and  who 
replied  to  him,  '  Lord,  I  believe,  help  thou  mine  un- 
belief' This  is  all  that  we  can  do,  and  where  we  can 
do  nothing,  God  is  ever  ready  to  aid  ;  besides,  there 
may  be  much  unrest  and  unbelief  in  the  head  whilst 
the  heart  liolds  firmly  by  its  anchor — '  God  is  love,  and 
he  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God/  I  know  of 
nothing  more  certain,  imperfect  as  our  love  must  needs 
be  here  below." 

Great  as  was  the  importance  which  Caroline  at- 
tached to  this  anchor  of  the  heart,  she  was  far  from 
wishing  to  make  it  an  excuse  for  indolent  security. 
"  Dear  Matthias,"  she  once  wrote,  "  accustom  yourself 
to  laborious  study.  It  is  not  mere  ignorance,  but  the 
want  of  the  power  of  application,  which  is  found  to 
have  such  evil  and  bitter  consequences.  Tell  me,  then, 
whether  you  are  bravely  diligent :  I  wish  and  hope  it 
may  be  so  ;  and  I  should  like  to  know  how  you  ar- 
range your  studies.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  pos- 
sible for  a  young  man,  however  earnest  and  well- 
intentioned,  always  to  see  the  why  and  wherefore  of 
15* 


346  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

his  studies.  You  would  relieve  me  from  a  great  anx- 
iety if  you  would  commit  yours  to  the  direction  of  some 
sensible,  learned,  and  older  man,  who  might  take  your 
father^s  place,  and  direct  your  scientific  career.  With- 
out pretending  to  understand  more,  I  know  that  expe- 
rience makes  the  best  guide.  Perhaps,  dear  Matthias, 
you  will  laugh  at  this  counsel  ;  you  are  quite  welcome ; 
only  consider  it,  and  tell  me  what  you  think  of  it.  I 
would  so  gladly  know  that  you  are  on  the  straightest 
road  even  to  human  learning." 

"  You  may  imagine,"  wrote  Caroline,  in  transmit- 
ting some  controversial  pamphlets,  "  the  py^os  and  con- 
tras  that  these  have  occasioned  ;  it  is  very  sad  and 
grievous  that  the  holiest  and  brightest  truths  of  relig- 
ion should  be  treated  as  mere  topics  of  conversation 
and  amusement — and  yet  it  has  this  good,  that  it  leads 
men  to  ask  themselves  on  which  side  they  are.  I  be- 
lieve with  you  that,  in  order  to  deal  honestly  with 
your  future  congregation,  and  with  your  own  under- 
standing, you  must  diligently  investigate,  in  order  that 
you  may  come  to  the  steadfast  knowledge,  and  the 
clear  consciousness,  that  *  in  Christ  Jesus  are  hidden 
all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  ;'  but  I  also  trust  in  God 
that,  if  you  wrestle  and  strive  earnestly,  He  will  give 
you  a  yearning,  and  a  steadfast  faith  by  which  He  will 
carry  on  the  work  of  grace  in  your  heart,  even  when 
your  understanding  labors  under  perplexity." 

"  In  answer  to  a  letter  in  which  her  son  had  told  her 
of  the  many  valuable  friends  whom  he  had  found  at 
the  University,  Caroline  replied, — "I  was  rejoiced 
to  receive  your  last  letter,  and  although  I  make 
allowance  for  youthful  enthusiasm,  and  am  well  aware 
that   your  best  moments  are  not  lasting,  yet  I  see 


DEPARTURE  OF  THE  ELDEST  SON.       347 

that  all  your  hopes  and  eiforts  are  in  the  right  direc- 
tion, and  we  are  thankful  that  you  have  joined  such 
a  circle  of  friends.  Tell  me  how  you  generally  spend 
the  Sunday,  and  whether  you  have  found  a  preacher 
who  proclaims  the  truth  witliout  any  human  additions, 
and  with  the  inward  confidence  tliat  lie  has  the  same 
interest  as  his  hearers  have  in  what  he  says.  I  hope 
that  you  are  pursuing  the  study  of  logic  right  ear- 
nestly ;  many  feel  the  want  of  it.  Last  Sunday  I  heard 
a  sermon  of  much  ability,  and  containing  much  that 
was  good  in  the  details,  but  the  whole  so  confused  that 
it  was  almost  impossible  to  follow  it  ;  thought  and 
learning  are,  in  general,  necessary  before  we  can  teach 
others,  I  thank  God  that  you  are  committed  to  teach- 
ers who  unite  in  themselves  learning  and  respect  for 
the  faith,'' 

But  it  was  not  only  in  the  studies  and  perplexities 
of  her  son  that  Caroline  was  interested,  she  also  sym- 
pathized warmly  with  him  in  the  pleasures  which  the 
University  offered.  "  Your  external  life  is  somewhat 
monotonous,  but  you  must  vary  it  a  little,  and  I  think 
you  should  do  so  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  order  and 
regularity."  "  You  have  given  us  great  pleasure  by 
the  narrative  of  your  journey,"  she  wrote,  when  the 
young  student  had  sought  recreation  for  a  time  in 
Switzerland  ;  "  open  your  eyes  wide,  look  at  everything, 
so  that  the  impressio^s,  which  are  to  be  the  materials 
of  thought  when  you  are  set  fast  in  the  yoke,  may  be 
permanent.  Jf  you  keep  your  eye  and  your  heart 
steadfastly  fixed  on  the  goal,  the  yoke  will  be  softer  and 
lighter  :  this  your  father  finds,  for  God  does  not  send 
him  empty  away  :  he  also  has  his  circle  of  influence 
where  God  blesses  his  efforts  ;  of  th^s  I  am  certain," 


348  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

"  Your  letter  from  Zurich  is  just  come,  and  tells  us 
that  you  are  well,  and  in  dear  Switzerland,  where  my 
heart  has  so  long  yearned  to  be.  I  have  got  the  map 
out,  and  have  followed  you  from  place  to  place,  and 
have  calculated  distances,  and  have  seen  everything 
with  you  as  far  as  possible.  No  one  can  sympathize 
with  you  more  than  I  do,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  works 
of  God  ;  only,  they  must  lead  you  into  the  depths  of 
your  own  heart  and  to  prayer." 

The  mother's  care  extended  to  the  minutest  details 
of  the  student-life,  and  warned  him  against  bad  habits, 
so  easily  acquired  when  removed  from  the  paternal 
roof.  "  It  is  long  since  you  have  written  about  your- 
self," she  says  in  one  of  her  letters,  "  and  of  your  daily 
life  at  home  and  abroad,  so  that  I  can  see  exactly  what 
you  are  about.  If  such  a  letter  is  not  already  on  the 
way,  sit  down  at  once,  and  tell  me,  circumstantially, 
whether  you  are  in  good  spirits,  what  you  are  at  work 
upon,  and  whether  you  are  making  progress  ;  also 
about  your  friends,  your  amusements,  your  chairs  and 
tables,  your  coats  and  shoes,  in  short,  about  all  that 
appertains  to  the  nourishment  and  necessities  of  this 
mortal  life  ;  I  am  longing  for  such  tidings." 

Shortly  after  this  she  writes  : — "  Make  a  point  of 
keeping  your  room  clean  and  neat,  and  of  opening  the 
windows  every  day  ;  and  then,  dear  Matthias,  I  entreat 
you,  out  of  love  to  me,  dress  yourself  on  first  rising, 
and  don't  sit  for  hours  half  dressed,  and  with  shoes 
down  at  the  heels  :  I  dislike  it  very  much  ;  dress  your- 
self for  the  day,  and  you  will  feel  fresh  and  cheerful, 
and  ready  for  anything  that  may  come." 

But  while  Caroline  thus  fully  entered  into  the  life 
of  her  eldest  son,  slie  kept  up  his  interest  in  home  by 


DEPARTURE   OP  JHE   ELDEST   SON.  349 

communicating  all  those  trifling  events  which  make  up 
domestic  life  :  all  anniversaries  were  especially  no- 
ticed ;  thus,  on  the  2d  August,  1820,  the  anniversary 
of  her  wedding-day,  Caroline  wrote, — "  We  were  sit- 
ting at  the  breakfast- table,  almost  buried  in  garlands, 
as  you  have  seen  us, — joy  and  pleasure  in  all  hearts 
and  eyes — when  your  letter  and  congratulatory  verses 
were  brought  to  us  ;  we  read  it,  rejoiced,  and  thanked 
God.  I  was  especially  affected  by  your  wedding- 
garland,  for  if  you  had  not  been  my  own  very  child, 
you  would  not  have  sent  it.  I  have  wept  my  fill, 
but  rather  from  joy  than  from  sorrow.  My  whole 
heart  thanks  you  for  your  affection,  and  1  pray  to  God 
that  He  may  strengthen  and  uphold  your  purpose,  and 
enable  you  to  act  upon  it.  We  have  need  to  will,  and 
will  afresh  every  minute,  for  thus  we  generally  bring 
something  to  good  effect,  often  unconsciously  indeed  ; 
but  what  is  unconscious  is  often  best.  At  least  there 
is  nothing  that  I  fear  so  much  as  self-satisfaction  ;  for 
the  feeling  of  need,  and  of  insufficiency,  and  the  reach- 
ing after  God's  mercy,  are  our  best  safeguards  here 
below,  because  this  is  our  real  and  natural  condition. 
That  God  may  help  you,  and  all  of  us,  my  dear  Mat- 
thias, is  my  constant  prayer.^' 

"  The  18th  October,''  she  writes  on  another  occasion, 
"  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Leipzig,  was  right 
festively  commemorated.  Early  in  the  morning  all  the 
bells  were  ringing,  all  the  churches  were  full,  and 
crowds  waited  without ;  at  noon  the  whole  town-guard 
turned  out ;  the  streets  were  so  full  of  holiday  folks 
walking,  driving,  and  riding,  that  I  could  not  hear 
myself  speak  ;  in  the  evening  there  were  fire-works  in 
every  direction.     I  sat  at  home  and  thought ;  the  rec- 


350  CAROLTXE   PERTHES. 

ollection  of  that  great  epoch  is  engraven  in  my  heart ; 
I  have  lived  tliose  iron  months  over  again  with  all  their 
joys,  and  sorrows,  and  anxieties  ;  yon  will  believe  that 
my  eyes  overflowed,  and  I  thanked  God  as  well  as  I 
could,  though  not  so  fervently  as  I  wished,  for  all  His 
goodness.  If  I  could  but  once  keep  this  day  in  the 
Aschau  cellar,  gratitude  would  rise  spontaneously,  and 
overpower  all  other  thoughts  :  that  cellar  I  shall  re- 
member as  long  as  I  live  ;  how  perplexed  I  often  was 
when  I  left  you  all  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  to  be 
alone,  and  to  give  free  course  to  my  tears.  I  am  really 
angry  with  all  who  on  such  a  day  can  allow  them- 
selves to  be  dissatisfied  with  things  as  they  are  ;  on 
other  days  people  may  be  angry,  and  demand  reforms, 
but  on  the  18th  of  October  we  ought  only  to  rejoice 
and  be  glad  in  the  deliverance  which  God  wrought  for 
us.  And  when  I  think  of  ourselves  in  particular,  what 
overflowing  pleasure  do  I  see  ;  only  my  darling,  blessed 
Bernard's  place  is  empty !  we  miss  him,  and  shall  miss 
him  till  we  go  to  him." 

In  another  letter  she  says, — "All  my  anniversaries 
now  that  we  are  so  dispersed,  are  spoilt,  and  no  longer 
yield  the  same  enjoyment,  for  it  takes  much  thought  to 
bring  you  all  before  me  now  ;  still,  so  long  as  nothing 
disturbing  comes  between  you  and  my  longing  after 
you,  I  shall  rejoice." 

"  The  empty  places  at  the  Christmas  table,"  she 
writes,  "  did  indeed  mar  my  joy,  but  not  my  gratitude 
to  God,  for  you,  my  dear  absent  children,  and  for  the 
persuasion  that  you  have  set  out  on  the  good  and  right 
way.  Though  I  cannot  see  you,  my  heart  is  glad  in 
its  affection,  and  especially  on  dear  Christmas  eve ; 


DEPARTURE  OF  THE  ELDEST  SON.       851 

still  it  was  a  quiet  festival,  and  less  happy  than  usual 
on  account  of  our  anxiety  for  Agricola.'' 

The  16th  January  was  Matthias'  birth-day,  and  his 
mother  wrote,  "  How  I  long  to  see  you  face  to  face, 
and  to  hold  you  in  my  arms,  tall  as  you  may  be,  for 
maternal  love  is  not  appalled  by  height,  and  the  cliild 
is  a  child  still  though  he  be  a  man.  You,  my  dear  old 
Matthias,  I  would  so  gladly  have  with  us  ;  keep  well, 
and  enter  on  your  one-and-twentieth  year  with  joy  and 
energy  :  may  God  be  with  you,  and  preserve  you,  and 
grant  all  my  wishes  for  you,  and  bless  you  forevermore, 
as  I  believe  He  will.  I  send  you  the  birth-day  wish 
and  prayer,  with  which  I  this  morning  awoke,  that  you 
may  make  it  your  own.  '  0  thou  Eternal  Light  and 
strong  Rock,  let  the  light  of  thy  life-giving  word  shine 
upon  him,  and  teach  him  to  know  thee  aright,  and  to 
call  thee  Father  with  his  whole  heart ;  teach  him  that 
Christ  is  our  Lord  and  Master,  and  that  there  is  none 
besides,  that  he  may  seek  thee  only,  and  trust  in  thee 
with  all  his  strength.'  My  beloved  child,  may  God 
grant  it  I "  - 


XXXI 


HE  bodily  sufferings  to  which  Caroline  had 
been  subject,  ever  since  the  trying  scenes  of 
1813,  had  been  greatly  aggravated  by  the 
cares  and  anxieties  of  the  last  summer.  The 
irritability  of  the  nervous  system,  and  the 
heart  disease  had  now  reached  an  alarming 
height ;  but  her  serenity  of  mind  was  undis- 
turbed ;  her  Christian  faith  and  hope  waxed  even 
brigliter  and  stronger  as  the  body  approached  its  last 
resting-place.  "  I  have  lately  had  feelings,  thoughts, 
and  views,  formerly  quite  unknown  to  me  with  refer- 
ence to  our  earthly  life  and  our  appointed  work  therein, 
and  in  connexion  with  these,  a  greater  serenity."  This 
she  wrote  in  the  spring  of  1820. 

And  again,  about  the  same  time, "  How  differently  I  re- 
gard my  position,  now  that  I  am  consciously  going  down 
the  hill,  and  find  myself  so  much  nearer  the  end  than 
the  beginning  of  life.  If  I  am  not  self-deceived,  when 
I  examine  myself  as  in  the  sight  of  God,  I  find  an  in- 
crease of  peace  and  assurance,  and  there  are  seasons 
when  I  am  even  confident.  God  grant  that  the  peace 
and  confidence  may  be  abiding,  and  not  a  mere  play 
of  fancy !  God  will  surely  help  me.  The  desire  of 
my  heart  is  for  peace  and  submission  to  His  will,  but  I 

(352) 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OP  CAROLINE.        353 

cannot  always  master  the  desire  to  live  here  on  earth. 
I  have  still  much  enjoyment  and  happiness  in  life,  and 
I  have  my  Perthes." — "  It  refreshes  my  spirit,  dear 
xVgnes,  to  hear  that,  like  me,  you  are  seeking  and  finding 
God  in  many  things  that  appear  insignificant,  but  that 
do  really  gently  stir  and  rejoice  our  hearts  all  the  day 
long.  1  cannot  say  much  about  them,  but  I  can  thank 
God,  and  long  for  more.  Let  us  only  be  faithful  and 
earnest  in  little  things,  and  perhaps,  in  heaven,  great 
things  may  be  committed  to  us." 

An  anxious,  doubting  state  of  mind  was  unknown 
to  her,  and  she  was  not  inclined  to  regard  it  favorably 
in  otliers.  "  N.,"  she  writes,  "  has  left  us ;  he  has  failed 
to  discern  much  that  is  good  here,  and  also  much  that 
is  not  good  in  the  circle  of  his  own  friends,  I  fancy, 
because  here  as  elsewhere,  externals  cast  a  veil  over 
tlie  inner-man.  He  is  certainly  a  pious  man,  but  his 
misfortune  is  that,  for  the  most  part,  he  has  an  eye 
only  for  what  he  dislikes  in  the  lives  of  Christians." 

In  another  letter  she  says  : — "  we  are  anxiously  look- 
ing for  a  man  of  truth  and  earnestness  to  prepare 
Matilda  for  confirmation,  and,  as  yet,  without  success. 
PI — 's  sister  has  gone  from  Riga  to  Kiel  for  a  year 
and  a  half,  that  her  daughter  may  enjoy  the  benefit  of 
Harms'  instruction  :  gladly  as  I  would  avail  myself 
of  his  teaching  for  Matilda,  I  could  never  have  taken 
such  a  step,  because  it  seems  to  me  to  involve  a  distrust 
of  the  Divine  power  and  influence  ;  and  besides,  how 
could  one  look  other  children  in  the  face,  whose  parents 
were  unable  to  do  so  much  fur  them  ?" 

That  it  was  possible  for  a  Christian  to  be,  for  a 
longer  or  shorter  period,  depressed  by  anxiety  con- 
Qerning  his  spiritual  state.  Caroline  was  well  aware, 


354  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

for  she  had  herself  experienced  it.  "  Come  to  my 
arras/'  she  wrote  in  tlie  spring  of  1821,  to  a  deeply  de- 
jected friend,  "  and  pour  out  your  lieart  with  all  its 
hopes  and  fears,  its  anxieties  and  sadness.  I  under- 
stand you,  and  have  not  forgotten  my  own  griofs,  but 
I  believe  that  God  will  look  upon  us  for  good,  if  even 
one  groan  escape  from  our  breasts.  Only  we  must  be 
willing  at  every  moment  to  take  up  our  burden,  and 
to  bear  what  God  sends  ;  and  that  He  often  sends 
heaviness  no  one  will  deny.  I  cannot  say  that  I  have 
never  murmured,  but  I  have  often  asked  God  with 
tears  why  He  has  weighed  me  down  ;  and  then  I  have 
been  strengthened  by  the  thought  that  it  is  all  His 
doing,  and  cannot  be  without  reason  ;  that  He  knows 
our  anxiety  and  cannot  be  offended  by  it." 

Although  well  acquainted  with  the  cares  and  sor- 
rows of  the  inner-life,  a  feeling  of  joy  and  thankfulness 
was  nevertheless  habitual  to  Caroline,  even  when  her 
bodily  sufferings  were  severe  ;  the  source  of  this  joy 
she  indicates  in  a  letter  to  her  eldest  daughter  : — "  That 
you  are  a  happy  woman  I  know,  and  I  desire  with  all  my 
heart  that  you  may  continue  so  :  nor  do  I  doubt  it ; 

perplexed  you  may  be,  but  not  unhappy  ;  for  one  who 
strives  from  the  heart  to  be  resigned  to  the  will  of 
God,  under  all  circumstances,  can  never  be  unhappy." 
Caroline  possessed,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  the 
power  of  tracing  the  sources  of  happiness,  and  of  not 
allowing  them  to  pass  by  unnoticed  and  unenjoyed. 
On  the  day  preceding  the  last  anniversary  of  her  be- 
trothal, which  she  survived,  she  wrote  : — "  To-morrow 
will  be  my  day  of  days,  the  first  of  May,  and  gladly 
would  I  wander  with  my  beloved  bridegroom  amid  the 
hills  and  woods,  where  I  might  sec  aud  hear  none  but 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  CAROLINE.        355 

himself,  and  might  thank  God,  that,  after  four-and- 
twenty  years,  I  can  keep  the  day  with  feelings  of  the 
most  thorough  joy  and  satisfaction.  A  few  sighs  may 
escape,  for  my  breath  is  but  short  ;  but  joy  shall  be 
continually  renewed  :  yes,  certainly,  the  woods,  the 
green  woods,  would  be  my  chosen  home ;  though,  when 
I  look  through  the  fresh  green  leaves  at  the  blue, 
waters  and  the  unclouded  sky,  all  is  so  beautiful,  that 
it  is  only  with  shame  and  self-reproach  that  I  can 
really  wish  for  more.  Such  a  fullness  of  spring  splen- 
dor and  beauty,  I  think  I  have  never  before  seen  ;  the 
loveliness  of  the  trees  and  foliage,  grass,  and  flowers, 
is  inexpressible.  And  this  great  change  from  death 
to  life  has  come  to  pass  in  a  few  days,  I  might  say,  in 
a  few  hours.  When  we  stand  in  the  sweet  spring-tide, 
looking  through  the  tall,  bright-green  trees  to  the  pure 
blue  sky,  one  can  scarcely  realize  all  the  trouble  and 
sorrow  that  may  be  within  us  and  around  us  :  yes, 
spring  is  the  time  of  joy  ;  and  that  joy  carries  my 
heart  upwards  to  that  bright  and  happy  land,  where 
there  shall  be  no  more  pain  or  sorrow." 

When  nature  was  dark  and  wintry,  Caroline  had 
many  other  sources  of  happiness.  Her  affection  for 
her  husband  and  children  was,  above  all  otlier  earthly 
things,  an  inexhaustible  fountain  of  joy  and  gratitude  : 
"  I  must  tell  you,  my  dear  Matthias,"  she  wrote  in 
1821,  "  that,  notwithstanding  my  difficulty  of  breath- 
ing, I  am  not  cast  down  :  and,  indeed,  I  have  no  reason 
for  being  so  ;  for  God  overpowers  us  with  blessings 
and  jojs,  by  making  our  children  happy  and  prosper- 
ous. We  hear  nothing  but  good  from  Gotha,  and  we 
hope  that  you  also  are  in  the  good  way,  and  that  God 
is  with  you.     Matilda  is  a  sensible  though  merry  child, 


356  CAROLINR   PERTHES. 

and  has  made  herself  useful,  beyond  what  one  could 
expect  from  her  age,  in  the  season  of  severe  sickness  ; 
she  delights  to  go  about  with  me  and  to  take  care  of  me 
as  far  as  she  is  able.  Perthes  is  specially  fond  of  his 
little  daughter.  Eleanora  is  a  nice  girl,  and  her  heart 
grows  full  of  kindliness  and  love  :  and  ni}?  Andrew  is 
my  delight  from  morning  till  evening,  v(\\en  he  does  not 
happen  to  be  passionate  and  naughty.  My  dearesi  Per- 
thes grows  daily  in  earnestness  and  grace,  as  regards 
his  own  soul ;  towards  myself  he  could  not  be  better. 
Can  I  then  do  otherwise  than  thank  God  and  rejoice  ?" 
In  a  letter  to  her  eldest  daughter  she  says  again, 
"  I  must  tell  you  more  about  your  father — how  he  con- 
tinues to  gain  peace,  quietness,  and  stability,  in  spite 
of  the  disturbance  and  confusion  by  which  he  is  sur- 
rounded. I  would  that  you  knew  this  as  surely  as  I 
do — it  is  so  comforting  and  encouraging  to  see  God's 
blessing  so  manifestly  resting  upon  him.  It  may  be 
difficult  for  those  who  look  only  at  separate  features 
of  his  character  to  realize  this  ;  but  I,  who  am  so 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  him,  know,  that  year  by 
year  he  draws  nearer  to  God,  and  is  working  out  his 
own  salvation  with  earnestness.  I  call  upon  you  to 
thank  God  with  me  for  having  given  you  such  a  father, 
he  is  almost  too  dear  and  good.  If  I  could  only  have 
him  a  little  more,  or  rather  talk  with  him  a  little 
more  ;  for  I  certainly  have  him  wholly — of  that  I  am 
persuaded.  Nothing  in  heaven  or  earth  can  sur. 
pass  genuine  affection  ;  it  will  certainly  make  the 
happiness  of  heaven,  only  there  it  will  be  greater,  and 
purer,  and  uninterrupted  ;  and,  according  to  my  pres- 
ent feelings,  I  should  desire  even  there  to  keep  my 
Perthes  and  to  love  him." 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  CAROLINE.        357 

In  the  autumn  she  wrote,  "  What  a  constant  and 
profound  sense  have  I  of  God's  mercy,  in  the  bright 
hopes  He  has  given  me,  and  to  so  great  an  extent 
already  realized,  in  and  through  you  all !  You  cannot 
imagine  what  bright  and  blessed  hours  your  father  and 
I  enjoy  when  we  sit  down  together,  to  think  over  tliis. 
It  is  a  gift  of  God's  grace,  unspeakably  precious,  to 
see  our  children  walking  in  the  way  to  heaven,  how- 
ever great  may  be  our  fears  and  anxieties  respecting 
them  ;  for  God  who  has  begun  the  good  work  will 
perform  it  in  us  all,  and  will  perfect  that  which  con- 
cerneth  us." 

In  a  letter  written  on  the  last  day  of  December,  Caro- 
line says,  "  One  could  not  have  believed  it  possible  to 
have  sailed  along  the  world's  sea  of  sorrow  and  suffer- 
ing, throughout  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  and 
to  find  our  fragile  bark  so  little  injured.  Again,  I  feel 
tliat  I  cannot  be  thankful  enough  ;  and  yet  how  many 
wishes  and  petitions  are  ready  for  the  opening  year." 

From  the  commencement  of  her  married  life,  Caro- 
line had  longed  for  more  of  outward  calm  and  quiet, 
that  her  enjoyment  of  Perthes'  society  might  have 
been  more  undisturbed  ;  but  the  course  of  time  con- 
vinced her  that  tlie  bustling  life  to  wliich  she  had  been 
called  was  a  needful  and  salutary  discipline. 

"  I  rejoice  with  you,"  she  once  wrote  to  her  daughter, 
"  that  you  have  returned  to  your  wonted  quiet  and 
peaceful  life,  and  that  I  still  long  with  all  my  heart 
for  quietness  and  peace  ;  for  this  longing  proves  to  me 
that  my  unrest  has  not  injured  me.  Who  can  say  that 
it  has  not  done  me  good  ?  I  should  certainly  never 
choose  to  live  in  a  whirl,  but  God  makes  all  things 
work  together  for  our  good." 


358  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Her  anxiety,  however,  lest  the  health  of  Perthes 
should  suffer  from  the  pressure  of  business  could  not  be 
allayed.  "  Perthes,"  she  once  wrote,  "  works  more  than 
is  good  for  him.  Ah !  if  I  could  but  get  him  safe  out 
of  this  tumult !  I  can  only  live  with  hini  in  thought, 
for  the  worry  of  incessant  toil  does  not  leave  me  a 
single  quiet  moment  with  him.  But  I  must  not,  and 
will  not  complain,  for  he  is  in  good  spirits,  and  would 
rejoice  if  we  could  be  more  together." 

Ever  since  Caroline's  eldest  d^iughter  had  been  set- 
tled in  Gotha,  she  had  cherished  the  hope  that,  at  no 
very  distant  period,  Perthes  would  commit  his  large 
business  and  its  unceasing  cares  to  others,  and  at  a 
distance  from  the  tumult  of  the  great  city  retire  to 
Gotha,  where  he  might  live  more  to  himself  and  for 
his  family.  In  many  letters  she  joyfully  alludes  to  this 
cneering  prospect.  "  If  God  will,  we  shall  come  nearer 
to  you  and  enjoy  a  common  happiness.  Yes,  in  the 
depths  of  my  heart,  I  anticipate  that  you,  dear  chil- 
dren, will  be  the  joy  of  my  old  age,  as  you  were  of  my 
youth." 

Somewhat  later  she  wrote, — "  I  notice  that  Perthes 
is  constantly  endeavoring  to  bring  matters  to  a  point, 
in  order  that  we  may  join  you  ;  but  when  I  would  ex- 
press the  delight  that  this  gives  me,  he  grows  restive, 
and  says,  that  I  ought  not  even  to  rejoice  in  my  heart, 
while  all  is  still  so  uncertain." 

Perthes,  in  the  meanwhile,  was  no  less  earnestly  oc- 
cupied with  the  hope  of  deliverance  from  the  wear  and 
tear  of  such  a  business.  Thus,  in  the  spring  of  1821, 
he  writes  to  his  eldest  daughter  and  her  husband, — 
"  You  are  indeed  privileged  in  being  able  to  enjoj  your 
youthful  years  so  free  from  care ;  mine  has  been  a  tu- 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  CAROLINE.         359 

multuous  life,  and  it  is  but  seldom  that  a  quiet  hour, 
unburdened  with  anxiety,  has  fallen  to  my  lot.  I  would 
thank  God  with  all  humility  for  His  guidance  liitherto, 
and  commit  my  way  to  Him  for  the  future.  My  desire 
is  for  quiet  and  repose.  I  would  not  be  unemployed  ; 
but  I  long  to  feel  at  liberty  to  follow  my  inclination, 
and  gradually  to  obliterate  from  my  heart  and  mind 
the  world's  unrest,  that  I  may  be  ready  for  that  time 
when  all  reckonings  here  below  must  be  forever  can- 
celled." 

Caroline's  hope  to  spend  the  latter  years  of  her  life 
in  quiet  union  with  Perthes  and  her  married  daughter, 
was  not  to  be  fulfilled.  The  disease  that  had  attacked 
her  heart  and  nerves,  increased  to  a  painful  degree  in 
the  spring  of  1821. 

'•  I  am  restless,  and  my  nerves  are  weak  and  weary," 
she  wrote  in  April,  "  and  my  breathing  is  become  very 
difficult.  This  is  not  a  healthy  condition,  and  Dr. 
Schroeder  does  his  best,  but  he  has  not  yet  found  the 
right  medicine."  Some  weeks  later  she  writes,  "  I  am 
now  drinking  the  Geilnauer  waters,  and  am  in  the  gar- 
den from  six  to  eight  o'clock  ;  and  happy  to  receive 
any  visitors  there.  I  take  all  sorts  of  journeys  in  im- 
agination, and  hold  long  conversations  with  you,  my 
beloved  children,  when  I  am  wandering  about  alone." 

Early  in  June  she  was  brought  to  the  gates  of  death 
by  nervous  fever,  consequent  on  a  severe  attack  of  in- 
ternal cramp  ;  and  she  now  became  fully  aware  of  her 
danger.  "  I  am  weary  and  done,"  she  wrote  when  the 
danger  had  passed  for  a  season ;  "  and  if  you  should 
see  me,  you  would  feel  that  my  days  are  numbered.  I 
give  myself  up  to  be  nursed  and  cared  for  by  Matilda, 
as  the  representative  of  you  all.     She  ministers  to  me 


360  CAROLINE   PEniHES. 

with  child-like  love,  and  with  great  judgment  and  cau- 
tion. I  have  often  had  you  by  me,  dear  Matthias,  and 
have  wished  you  good-morning  and  good-night.  I 
thank  God  that  I  can  think  of  you  with  joy.  Once, 
in  my  delirium,  I  thought  you  were  become  a  Catholic  ; 
I  took  it  sadly  to  heart,  and  now  I  rejoice  the  more  that 
it  is  not  so." 

Serious  thoughts  of  death  had  been  familiar  to  Caro- 
line throughout  her  whole  life.  She  had  always  re- 
garded it  with  solemn  awe,  but  it  had,  perhaps,  never 
excited  in  her  mind  that  terror  with  which  it  is  fre- 
quently associated  even  in  the  minds  of  pious  men,  and 
of  which  the  majority  of  people  are  insensible,  only 
because  wholly  given  over  to  frivolity.  The  letters  in 
which  Caroline  refers  to  the  death  of  those  near  and 
dear  to  her,  are  the  expression  of  distress,  but  never 
of  alarm — she  is  peaceful  and  resigned.  Thus,  in  one 
of  them  she  says — "  This  is  another  anniversary  of 
death  :  ten  years  ago,  my  beloved  John  departed  from 
lis.  In  this  long  interval  I  have  always,  thank  God, 
been  able  to  love  him,  but  not,  alas!  to  see  and  hear 
him,  and  who  can  tell  whether  he  is  still  capable  of 
loving  me  ?  I  believe  that  the  relation  of  mother  and 
child  ceases  in  heaven  ;  but  God  will  assuredly  so 
order  all  things  that  we  shall  still  love  each  other.'* 

Again  she  says,  "  It  is  hard  for  the  survivor,  with  a 
heart  full  of  love  and  yearning,  no  longer  to  hear  and 
see  the  dear  departed  one.  How  deeply  and  vividly 
I  feel  this  when,  with  my  motherly  heart,  I  think  of  my 
beloved  children  in  heaven.  I  cannot  help  asking 
why  our  Heavenly  Father  has  appointed  these  painful 
partings  ;  and  thougli  I  receive  no  answer,  I  am  reas- 
sured aqd  conaforted  by  the  knowledge  that  it  is  His 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  CAROLINE.        361 

will,  and  that  He  wills  nothing  but  good,  even  when  it 
does  not  seem  so  to  us." 

In  another  letter  she  writes  : — "  Old  Mrs.  N.  gently 
fell  asleep  yesterday.  I  rejoice  to  think  that  she  was 
ready :  she  could  no  longer  enjoy  anything  here  below  ; 
and  her  weakness  and  confusion  of  mind  were,  as  far 
as  we  could  judge,  a  hindrance  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
presence  and  consolations  of  God  Himself.  Now  her 
dormant  love  is  rekindled  never  to  be  dimmed  by  the 
thousand  trifles  that  clouded  and  dogged  it  here." 

Again :  "  I  have  passed  some  very  serious  hours  at 
S.'s  death-bed.  He  died  with  wonderful  peace  and 
resignation,  retaining  his  consciousness  to  the  last.  I 
rejoiced  to  look  upon  the  corpse  as  it  lay  in  the  still 
repose  of  death,  no  longer  constrained  to  cough,  and 
tortured  for  want  of  air.  It  is  remarkable,  and  I  have 
often  observed,  how  high  and  clear  death  makes  the 
forehead  :  even  S.'s  was  very  fine  after  death,  though 
certainly  it  was  not  so  in  life." 

On  receiving  the  news  of  the  decease  of  Count  F. 
L.  Stolberg,  in  December,  1819,  Caroline  had  written 
to  her  eldest  daughter, — "  The  dear,  pure  spirit  will 
BOW  see  God  face  to  face,  of  that  I  am  persuaded  ;  but 
we  have  one  dear  friend  lesson  earth.  The  last  month 
of  his  life  was  spent  in  writing  a  little  book  on  Love  : 
this  was  a  good  preparation  for  the  enjoyment  of  the 
Eternal  Love.  May  God  enable  us  all  to  grow  and 
stand  fast  in  His  love  ;  then  we  shall  be  prepared  for 
all  that  may  happen  !  I  would  so  gladly  have  minis- 
tered to  Stolberg  in  his  illness  and  at  his  death  :  there 
is  no  greater  comfort  on  earth  than  to  see  a  man  die  in 
full  consciousness,  committing  himself  peacefully  and 
joyfully  to  the  mercy  of  God  in  faith.  Dear  Agnes, 
16 


862  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

we  have  once  seen  this  together  in  my  dear  father.  Do 
you  still  remember  the  wonderful  beauty  of  his  eyes  in 
those  last  hours,  even  to  the  last  minute  V^ 

But  while  Caroline  did  not  shrink  from  the  thought 
of  death,  she  thoroughly  enjoyed  life.  "  When  at  our 
outset  in  life  we  have  surmounted  one  hill,  we  are  apt 
to  think  that  we  have  left  all  hills  behind,  and  have 
nothing  but  smooth  walking  to  the  end  of  our  days," 
she  says  to  her  daughter  Louisa  ;  ''  at  least  I  have  often 
felt  this  ;  and  then  I  came  to  little  hills  and  great 
mountains  which  I  must  needs  cross,  and  so  it  will  be 
till  we  have  climbed  the  last,  and  laid  down  our  bur- 
den. Still,  notwithstanding  the  hills,  life  is  pleasant 
and  valuable  to  me,  and  were  it  God's  will,  I  could 
gladly  live  among  you  yet  awhile  with  my  beloved 
Perthes,  especially  if  he  could  find  a  place  of  rest 
where  I  might  be  more  with  him.  In  that  case,  I 
should  indeed  wish  that  my  breathing  were  somewhat 
more  free,  so  that  I  might  go  about  and  enjoy  life  with 
you."  And  soon  after, — "  It  ought  not  to  be  so,  but 
the  thought  of  keeping  time  in  our  grasp  often  occurs. 
Assuredly  God  cannot  have  less  good  in  store  for  us  in 
lieaven,  but  that  which  we  have  here  we  see  with  our 
eyes,  and  thus  it  has  a  stronger  hold  on  our  hearts 
than  the  anticipation  of  even  the  better  things  await- 
ing us  above.  But  even  here  below  there  are  moments 
of  great  and  inconceivable  assurance  and  blessedness, 
if  we  could  only  keep  them  ;  but  my  special  sorrow  is, 
that  I  am  not  at  all  times  master  of  my  own  heart,  and 
my  greatest  comfort  is,  that  God  knows  me  perfectly  ; 
and  certainly,  I  desire  far  more  than  I  can  accom- 
plish." 

In  the  middle  of  July,  Caroline  was  taken  to  Wands- 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  CAROLINE.         363 

beck,  in  order  to  be  away  from  the  bustle  of  home,  and 
that  she  might  take  the  air  without  going  up  and  down 
stairs  ;  she  now  suffered  much  from  difficulty  of 
breathing  and  cramp  in  the  chest.  "  When  I  sit  still, 
I  am  pretty  w^ell,  and  enjoy  the  beautiful  wreath er 
quite  forgetting  my  pain,  but  the  slightest  movement 
reminds  me  of  it  at  once.'' 

"  It  is  now  three  months,*'  she  writes  another  time, 
"  since  I  have  been  able  to  do  anything  in  the  house, 
the  kitchen,  or  the  cellar,  and  this  distresses  me  greatly. 
I  long  indescribably  to  return  to  my  duties,  and  to 
spare  my  dear  Perthes  any  further  anxiety  about  my 
health.  I  cannot  do  any  kind  of  work,  not  even  knit, 
neither  can  I  read  ;  but  I  feel  no  tediousness,  and  am 
in  very  good  spirits.  I  must  not  write  any  more,  my 
dear  child.  It  it  not  my  heart,  but  my  head  that  is 
weary." 

These  were  almost  the  last  lines  that  she  was  able  to 
write  to  her  distant  children,  but  her  affection  con- 
tinued undiminished,  and  slie  rejoiced  with  them,  as 
warmly  as  ever,  on  the  occasion  of  the  birth  of  her 
second  grandson  in  July.  "  God  help  those  poor  crea- 
tures," she  wrote,  "  who  have  no  love  in  their  hearts  ; 
you  dear,  happy  children,  how  glad  I  am  to  be  your 
mother,  and  how  I  rejoice  in  all  your  happiness  I" 

In  the  last  letter  to  her  son  at  Tiibingen,  on  the  2d 
August,  she  says, — "We  passed  our  wedding-day  very 
happily  at  Wandsbeck  ;  I  went  round  the  beautiful 
large  meadow  many  times  with  my  dear  bridegroom, 
sitting  down  occasionally,  and  cannot  be  thankful 
enough  for  this  delightful  walk.  We  were  alone,  and 
it  was  many  years  since  I  had  such  a  walk  with  my 
dear  Perthes  ;  our  conversation  was  very  comprehen- 


h 


364  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

sive  and  hopeful ;  since  it  is  not  only  the  past  but  the 
present  which  is  ours,  we  thought  of  you  all." 

But  Caroline's  health  was  not  improved  by  her  stay 
at  Wandsbeck  : — "  How  gladly  would  I  tell  you  that  I 
am  strong  and  hearty,"  wrote  Caroline  to  Perthes  on 
the  8th  August,  "  but  I  cannot ;  I  do  not  feel  strong. 
Pleased  I  am,  but  not  cheerful,  though  I  might  be  so, 
could  I  sit  on  my  bench  in  the  open  air  ;  the  pleasure 
of  being  out  carries  me  beyond  myself,  but  within 
doors  I  do  not  easily  forget  myself,  and  my  short 
breath  :  perhaps  to-morrow  God  will  send  the  doctor 
the  right  thought.  My  general  health  is  still  good, 
and  the  one  weakness  may  yet  be  found  out.  My  feel- 
ings tell  me  that  I  may  be  perfectly  restored,  though 
my  understanding  speaks  rather  differently." 

A  few  days  after  this  Caroline  returned  to  Ham- 
burgli,  in  order  to  be  near  her  physician,  but  the  hope 
of  recovery  diminished  day  by  day.  Although  Caro- 
line was  not  at  this  time  living  in  the  immediate  ex- 
pectation of  death,  she  enjoyed  a  closer  communion 
with  God.  The  old  hymn,"^  "  Lord,  I  would  venture 
on  thy  word,"  was  her  delight.  When,  through  the 
severity  of  her  sufferings,  and  the  restlessness  of  fever, 
she  could  with  difficulty  keep  before  her  the  contents 
of  the  hymn,  she  would  take  up  her  pen,  and  write  a 
few  verses,  in  order  to  impress  these  breathings  of 
prayer  on  her  mind. 

Perthes  had  long  been  aware  of  her  danger.  Thus 
in  a  letter  written  somewhat  later  than  this,  he 
writes  : — "  I  have  long  suffered  on  her  account,  and 
for  many  months  have  been  weighed  down  with  grief. 

•  '*  Herr  auf  dein  Wort  soil's  sein  gewagt." — German. 


THE   LAST   DAYS  OF   CAROLINE.  365 

My  lonely  walks  have  been  spent  in  endeavoring  to 
realize  the  heavy  trial  that  is  before  me,  and,  with 
God's  help,  to  prepare  for  it.  Ever  and  anon  hope  re- 
vived, but  only  to  be  dashed  again.  No  one,  who 
knew  as  1  did,  the  weight  of  the  fetters  that  a  weary 
body  imposed  upon  so  active  and  intense  a  spirit  as 
hers,  could  believe  that  she  could  long  endure  it.  She 
has  suffered  much  for  a  long  time,  and  it  is  a  hard 
struggle  for  one  so  excitable  and  energetic,  to  feel  her- 
self constantly  bound.  It  was  only  her  genuine 
Christianity,  and  the  consideration  of  the  sufferings 
of  our  Lord,  that  supported  her  and  kept  her  patient, 
yea  cheerful,  and  preserved  her  sympathies  to  the  last. 
I  alone  knew  how  weak  she  was,  and  how  much  she 
suffered  ;  lier  friends  and  acquaintance  saw  only  her 
kindness  and  her  mental  energy." 

On  Friday,  24th  August,  frequent  and  violent  attacks 
of  inward  cramp  placed  her  life  in  immediate  danger, 
and  from  this  time  she  alternated  between  wild  deliri- 
um and  exhaustion,  struggles  for  breath,  and  profound 
sleep  ;  but  there  were  occasional  hours  of  freedom  from 
pain,  and  of  perfect  consciousness,  and  then  the  peace 
of  faith,  the  assurance  of  hope,  and  the  joy  of  love, 
were  victorious  over  suffering  and  death.  During 
tiiese  last  days,  Perthes  enjoyed  the  most  perfect  res- 
ignation and  peace. 

"  Your  mother  is  very  ill,"  he  says  in  a  letter  to  his 
sons-in-law,  w^ritten  on  the  28th  August  :  "  we  are  in 
God's  liand,  and  may  hope,  although  we  have  more 
cause  for  fear  :  I  fmd  my  comfort  and  support  in  sub- 
mission ;  Thy  will  be  done,  0  Lord.  If  God  has  or- 
dained the  death  of  your  pious  mother,  His  will  be 
done  :  I  could  not  count  much  on  my  own  strength, — 


366  CAROLINE   PERTHES.       '* 

the  rending  of  such  ties  is  terrible  ;  it  is  terrible  to  be 
left  without  the  only  creature  who  entirely  knows  me, — 
sad,  desolate  loneliness,  long  or  sliort,  is  all  that  re- 
mains, no  more  comfort  of  mutual  cooperation,  no 
helper  in  all  joys  and  sorrows.  I  cannot  and  dare  not 
hope  ;  it  is  only  when  I  realize  the  worst  tliat  I  find 
comfort  and  support." 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  this  letter  was 
written,  on  28th  August,  1821,  shortly  after  nine 
o'clock,  a  stroke  of  paralysis  put  an  end  to  Caroline's 
life  so  suddenly,  that  no  pressure  of  the  hand,  no  word 
or  look  of  love,  gave  token  of  farewell  to  those 
around  her. 

'•  "Welcome  the  tomb ! 
Immortality's  lamp  burnetii  bright  'mid  the  gloom  ; 
The  pillow  is  there  on  which  Christ  bowed  His  head  ; 
How  sweetly  I'll  slumber  on  that  holy  bed ! 
But  sweeter  the  morn  that  shall  follow  that  night, 
"When  the  sunrise  of  glory  shall  beam  on  my  sight, 
While  the  full  matin  song,  as  the  sleepers  arise 
To  hail  the  glad  morning,  shall  peal  through  the  skies." 


XXXII 


/t  ITHOUT  making  any  unnatural  efforts,  witli- 
^  out  constrained  resignation,  Perthes  gave 
himself  up  to  the  sorrow  so  natural  on  such 
a  loss,  but  which  yet  is  found  only  in  connex- 
ion with  Christianity,  because  it  presupposes 
the  necessity  of  submission  and  hope. 
"  Here  I  am  with  my  poor  children,"  wrote 
Perthes  on  the  following  morning  to  his  son-in-law, 
"  and  life  looks  empty  and  desolate  ;  we  seek  for  the 
overflowing  affection  that  has  been  so  richly  granted 
to  us  ;  and  yet,  since  we  could  have  it  only  by  bringing 
back  my  Caroline  and  your  mother,  could  we  wish 
that  her  free  and  pious  spirit  should  be  again  impris- 
oned in  the  body  ?  My  poor  little  children, — you  old- 
er ones  have  had  the  benefit  of  your  mother's  mind, — 
but  the  younger  ones  must  for  ever  miss  her  love  and 
her  watchful  spirit :  God  help  them  and  me.  It  breaks 
my  heart  to  see  the  little  ones  seeking  up  and  down  for 
their  mother  everywliere,  and  to  hear  their  sobs  when 
they  do  not  find  lier.  The  corpse  is  inexpressibly 
beautiful,  from  the  height  6i  the  forehead  and  the 
sweet  loving  smile  that  plays  about  the  mouth." 

In  a  letter  written  on  the  same  day  to  his  son  Mat- 
thias, Perthes  says, — "  Iler  love  can  no  longer  bless  us 

(367) 


368  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

here  below  ;  she  is  at  rest  with  God,  while  we  mourn 
her  loss  :  weep  as  much  as  you  can,  then  compose  and 
command  yourself,  and  come  to  us." 

"  My  sorrow  does  not  make  me  idle,"  wrote  Perthes, 
a  few  days  afterwards,  to  his  daughter,  "it  rather 
rouses  my  affections,  and  excites  me  to  be  helpful  to 
all  around  me,  as  far  as  I  can  ;  I  have  abundant  cause 
of  thankfulness,  that  for  four-and-twenty  years  God 
permitted  me  to  enjoy  this  treasure  of  affection,  ener- 
gy, and  intelligence,  and  I  would  render  thanks  to 
Him  for  this.  Now  she  knows  how  and  wherein  I 
sinned,  as  she  could  not  know  here  below,  but  now  she 
also  realizes  the  full  measure  of  my  affection.  How 
many  are  the  hindrances,  and  limitations,  and  circum- 
stances, great  and  small,  that  oppose  our  recognition 
of  the  love  that  is  in  other  men's  hearts !  That  she 
now  knows  me  thoroughly,  and  helps  me  to  cleave  to 
God  and  to  walk  before  Him,  I  am  fully  persuaded, 
though  I  am  aware  that  Revelation  gives  no  express 
countenance  to  this  belief." 

In  a  subsequent  letter  Perthes  says, — "  All  that  I 
have  done  and  planned,  that  was  not  immediately  con- 
nected with  business,  has  for  four-and-twenty  years 
been  solely  in  reference  to  your  mother  ;  she  never 
knew,  at  least  in  full,  how  dependent  I  was  on  her  ; 
she  only  thought,  through  the  deptli  of  her  love  for  me, 
what  sacrifices  I  had  made.  But  now  all  this  is  over, 
I  am  no  longer  bound,  I  can  do  what  I  will,  and  next 
to  the  yearning  after  her,  I  am  most  oppressed  in  my 
solitude  by  the  consciousness  of  freedom.  I  know  by 
long  experience  the  instability  of  man  when  he  is  left 
alone,  and  if  humility  can  bring  down  help  from  above, 
I  may  venture  to  hope  that  it  will  not  be  denied.     If 


PERTHES  AND   HIS   MOTHERLESS   CHILDREN.       369 

it  were  not  for  you,  children,  my  wish  would  be  to  de- 
part, but  my  course  is  not  yet  ended,  and  I  must  con- 
tinue to  struggle  and  to  act." 

In  a  letter  to  his  son  at  Tubingen,  he  says, — "  In  my 
heart  all  is  dark  and  desolate  ;  I  long  for  communica- 
tion with  some  loving  soul,  as  if  communion  with  the  In- 
visible were  not  enough,  and  to  this  disquiet  is  added 
the  anxious  fear,  lest  when  time  shall  have  cooled 
down  my  burning  sorrow,  my  affection  for  your  moth- 
er should  also  suffer  some  diminution." 

Again,  after  a  few  weeks,  he  wrote, — "  I  am  now 
more  reconciled  to  the  transition  from  that  yearning 
which  arises  from  bereavement,  and  neither  can  nor 
should  be  permanent,  to  a  continued  life  with  the  be- 
loved one  in  the  immediate  presence  of  God  and  our 
Saviour  :  I  trust  I  have  found  that  peace  of  God, 
which  is  the  only  rest  of  the  soul." 

In  a  letter  to  Helena,  the  sister  of  F.  H.  Jacobi, 
who  had  been  a  motherly  friend  to  Caroline  from  her 
girlhood,  Perthes  gave  a  lively  picture  of  the  great 
blessing  which  he  had  possessed  in  Caroline.  '*  You, 
indeed,  early  appreciated  the  worth  of  my  Caroline, 
but,  removed  as  you  were  from  her  in  these  last  years, 
you  could  not  see  the  development  of  her  mind  ;  her 
piety  and  loveliness,  and  the  simplicity  of  her  charac- 
ter, were  untouched  by  years,  and  her  affection,  while 
it  retained  all  its  strength  and  depth,  expanded  in  ev- 
ery direction,  and  showered  blessings  and  benefits  on 
all  within  her  reach.  She  had  counsel,  comfort,  and 
help  for  all  who  approached  her,  and  won  love,  and  an 
esteem  bordering  on  reverence  from  persons  of  the 
most  opposite  character  and  circumstances.  Caroline's 
imagination  was  of  unparalleled  vivacity,  and  origi- 
16* 


870  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

nated  the  deepest  sympathy  with  all  that  was  passing  in 
the  world.  She  had  much  experience  of  human  na- 
ture, but  her  judgment  was  always  loving  and  pitiful, 
her  faith  was  free  from  the  narrowness  of  the  letter, 
and  great  as  was  her  affection  for  me,  she  was  perfect- 
ly independent  in  mind.  For  four-and- twenty  years 
we  have  lived  together  through  cares  and  anxieties, 
sometimes  through  sorrow  and  trouble,  but  in  all  she 
was  happy,  for  every  moment  was  filled  with  love  and 
lively  sympathy  ;  always  resigned  to  the  inevitable, 
she  preserved  her  heroic  spirit  in  great  events.  That 
poverty  of  spirit,  so  extolled  by  Taulerus  and  Thomas- 
^-Kempis,  was  hers  ;  she  had  acquired  it  in  struggling 
with  a  vigorous  nature,  to  which  passion,  impetuosity, 
and  ambition  were  not  unknown.  From  her  earliest 
youth  she  had  lived  in  continual  intercourse  with  God, 
and  she  was  sincere  as  I  have  known  few  besides. 
And  now  this  great  and  rare  blessing  is  lost  to  me  in 
the  grave, — in  vain  I  stretch  out  my  arms  ;  humanly 
speaking,  I  am  alone,  and  yet  I  have  a  foretaste  of  a 
previously  unknown  blessedness,  since  our  souls  may 
now  meet  unfettered  ;  but  this  may  not  be  put  into 
words,  since  once  uttered  it  becomes  untrue." 

After  Caroline's  death,  Perthes  felt  the  constant 
bustle  of  business  more  painfully  than  ever,  while  for 
the  motherless  children  a  quieter  life  and  a  simpler 
style  of  living  seemed  indispensable.  He  had  long 
planned  the  transfer  of  the  Hamburgh  business  to 
Besser,  and  the  removal  of  his  own  residence  to  Gotha. 
There,  in  the  centre  of  Germany,  he  proposed  to  estab- 
lish a  publishing  business,  and  henceforward  exclusive- 
ly to  devote  himself  to  this  quieter  and  less  wearing 
vocation.     After  Caroline's  death,  he  resolved  on  car- 


PERTHES   AND    HIS    MOTHERLESS    CHILDREN.       371 

rying  out  the  long-cherished  purpose  with  as  little  de- 
lay as  possible.  "  Next  Easter  we  shall  come  to  you, 
and,  if  it  please  God,  stay  with  you  ;  this  resolution  is 
not  forced  on  rae  by  excited  feelings,  but  has  been 
carefully  considered,  and  is  wise  and  necessary." 

''  The  housekeeping  can  be  carried  on  as  usual,"  he 
says  in  a  subsequent  letter  ;  "  Matilda  is  active  and 
sensible,  and  has  conducted  it  with  discretion  and  judg- 
ment beyond  her  years,  during  her  mother's  illness. 
She  still  continues  to  take  care  of  the  younger  children ; 
but  apart  from  all  other  considerations,  I  should  be 
doing  injustice  to  Matilda,  if  by  remaining  here  I  were 
to  oppress  her  youthful  spirit  of  seventeen,  by  leaving 
so  much  under  her  charge." 

The  winter  of  1821-22  was  occupied  with  prepara- 
tions for  the  transfer  of  the  business  and  the  removal 
to  a  new  home.  Mauke,  who  had  long  borne  the  bur- 
den and  care  of  the  vast  business  with  Perthes,  was 
now  taken  in  as  a  partner,  and  things  were  put  into 
such  a  train,  that,  if  the  Gotha  plan  succeeded,  the 
final  arrangements  would  not  be  difficult. 

But  the  separation  from  the  friends  of  his  youth,  and 
from  all  the  associations  of  his  past  life,  was  far  more 
painful  to  Perthes  than  the  dissolution  of  his  business 
relations ;  with  the  former  he  had  experienced  the  full 
joy  and  the  full  sorrow  of  life  ;  amid  these  he  had 
learned  and  suffered,  wrestled  and  enjoyed.  Thus  he 
wrote  in  January : — "  I  will  not  tell  you  how  I  passed 
Christmas  and  the  New  Year  ;  they  were  heavy,  heavy 
days,  and  heavy  days  are  still  before  me.  Every  step, 
every  stroke  of  the  pen  vibrates  in  my  heart,  and  seema 
to  say.  At  last!  Thirty  years  of  my  life  have  been  pass- 
ed in  this  neiorhborhood  :  here  I  have  won  all  that  w^s 


372  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

dear  to  me,  a  calling,  influence,  and  consideration  ;  here 
I  met  with  Caroline,  and  here  I  found  God.  It  is  no 
light  matter  to  leave  a  house  and  city,  men  and  asso- 
ciations, with  which  my  own  life  has  grown  up,  and  I 
feel  it  deeply  ;  but  it  is  needful  for  me  to  keep  up  my 
spirits,  since  I  have  not  only  to  preserve  my  own  com" 
posure,  but  also  to  keep  my  heart  for  others,  well-re- 
solved indeed,  but  not  cold  or  insensible.  I  do  my  ut- 
most to  bridle  the  outer  man,  and  may  God  help  me  to 
overcome  the  weakness  that  is  within." 

At  the  close  of  February,  Perthes  wrote : — "  An  hour 
ago,  your  Wandsbeck  grandmother  left  our  house  for 
the  last  time.  How  many  days  of  joy  and  trouble,  of 
sorrow  and  anxiety,  she  has  passed  here!  Here  two 
of  her  grandchildren  died ;  from  this  house  she  saw  us 
driven  out  into  the  world  as  wanderers  ;  in  this  room 
she  witnessed  the  departure  of  her  husband  and  daugh- 
ter— and  now,  in  a  few  weeks,  our  place  will  no  longer 
be  found.  When  such  depths  of  feeling,  usually  fast 
sealed  up,  are  opened,  and  a  heart  that  retains  in 
advanced  age  all  the  energy  of  youth,  gives  way 
to  the  profoundest  grief,  it  is  hard  to  preserve  one's 
calmness.  It  was  one  of  the  hardest  and  most  painful 
trials  of  my  life." 

Just  before  he  left  Hamburgh,  Perthes  wrote  a  few 
farewell  lines  to  the  Countess  Louisa  Stolberg  : — ''  The 
time  is  come  when  I  must  take  leave  of  the  honie  and 
place  where  I  have  enjoyed  so  large  a  measure  of  hap- 
piness in  affectionate  and  intelligent  communion ;  my 
heart  is  oppressed  with  sorrow,  but  I  humbly  trust  that 
strength  will  be  given  me ;  to  you,  my  dear  maternal 
friend,  for  the  sake  of  our  old  associations  and  ac- 
quaintance, I  send  a  parting  greeting.     How  often  has 


PERTHES   AND   HIS  MOTHERLESS   CHILDREN.       373 

my  beloved  Caroline  taken  up  the  pen  to  bid  you  fare- 
well— but  she  could  not :  deeply  did  she  feel  and  re- 
turn your  love  ;  of  this  you  are  well  aware  :  let  us 
cleave  to  each  other  in  faith,  till  wo  too  are  gathered 
to  the  abodes  of  peace  and  light.'' 

On  Wednesday,  the  22d  of  March,  1822,  Perthes,  with 
his  four  children,  left  Hamburgh,  and  on  the  following 
Monday  reached  Gotha,  where,  as  he  had  anticipated, 
a  calm  and  peaceful,  but  not  inactive,  life  awaited  him. 


XXXIII. 


jERTHES  had  lived  exactly  half  a  century,  when 
called  upon  to  begin, as  it  were,  a  new  life,  un- 
der new  circumstances.  He  had  exchanged  the 
bustle  of  a  great  seaport  for  a  quiet  retreat 
containing  about  12,000  inhabitants,  an  inde- 
pendent commercial  republic  for  a  small  Ger- 
man capital.  Gotha  cannot  fail  favorably  to 
impress  all  who  visit  it.  It  forms  a  crescent  at  the 
foot  of  the  Schlossberg,  from  whose  summit  the  palace 
of  Friedenstein  looks  down  on  a  green  and  fertile 
plain,  and  southwards  to  the  glorious  extent  of  the  for- 
est of  Thuringia.  Park-like  grounds,  rich  in  old  trees, 
grassy  slopes,  and  flourishing  plantations,  front  the 
town  on  the  opposite  side,  sheltering  the  remarkably 
fine  orangery  of  the  ducal  palace  together  with  many 
a  pleasant  pavilion,  and  giving  to  Gotha  the  appear- 
ance of  standing  in  the  middle  of  a  spacious  park.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  narrow  stream  of  the  Leine,  divert- 
ed with  great  skill  from  the  hills,  rather  displays  tlian 
supplies  the  want  of  water  in  the  district,  and  the  wide 
extent  of  treeless,  level  ground,  between  the  forest  and 
the  town,  intersected,  at  the  period  of  which  we  speak, 
by  no  good  roads,  removes  the  mountain  range  to  a 
considerable  distance. 
(374) 


GOTHA. 


375 


Together  with  the  rest  of  Germany,  Gotha  was  drag- 
ged into  the  whirlpool  consequent  upon  the  first  French 
Revolution  ;  but  however  strongly  the  period,  dating 
from  Luneville  to  the  second  peace  of  Paris,  had  con- 
vulsed the  whole  country,  it  had  not  been  able  to  over- 
come the  tenacity  inherent  in  German  character  and 
outward  circumstance.  In  many  a  small  state  the 
good  old  times  had  passed  over  unchanged  into  a  new 
epoch,  and  in  the  Duchy  of  Gotha  when  Pertlies  first 
settled  there  in  1822,  both  town  and  country  aff'orded 
a  picture  of  manners,  customs,  and  regulations,  which 
carried  one  back  to  the  years  immediately  preceding 
the  Revolution. 

Every  evening  the  streets  of  one-storied  houses  were 
filled  with  cattle  returning  from  pasture,  and  by  night 
the  only  sound  heard  in  them  was  the  loud  horn  of  the 
watchman  and  his  pious  caution, — "  Put  out  fire,  and 
put  out  light,  that  no  evil  chance  to-night,  and  praise 
we  God  tlie  Lord."  The  streets  were  lively  only  on  the 
weekly  market-days,  when  the  robust  form  of  Thurin- 
gian  peasants,  with  their  gaily  dressed,  healthy-looking 
wives  and  daughters,  selling  corn  and  wood,  butter, 
flax,  fruit,  and  other  country  and  forest  produce,  filled 
the  square  in  front  of  the  old  town-hall,  on  whose  roof 
a  greedy -looking  wooden  head  opened  its  mouth  at  the 
striking  of  the  hour,  as  if  uncertain  whether  to  speak 
or  bite. 

There  were  a  multitude  of  strange  relics  of  a  past 
time,  which  met  the  stranger  at  every  step,  though  the 
inhabitants  of  the  place  hardly  remarked  than.  Day 
by  day  a  little  man,  in  a  blue  coat  with  shining  buttons, 
mounted  on  a  pony  smaller  still,  might  be  seen  wending 
his  way  midst  the  confusion  of  heavily  laden  wagons, 


876 


CAROLINE  PERTHES. 


which  were  wont  to  rest  a  night  in  Gotha,  on  their 
way  from  Frankfurt  to  Leipzig.  This  functionary  was 
the  Weimar  escort,  the  terror  of  the  wagoners,  looking 
out  for  any  defaulters  among  them  who  had  not  paid 
the  tax  formerly  levied  in  return  for  an  armed  escort, 
which  served  as  protection  against  the  assaults  of 
knightly  highwaymen.  Long  as  this  custom  had  be- 
come obsolete,  the  fee  was  still  rigidly  exacted,  as  well 
as  the  town-toll,  from  wagons  which  were  not  per- 
mitted to  go  through,  but  only  around  it. 

Not  less  notable  to  the  youth  of  the  place  were  the 
giant  forms  of  the  guard,  with  their  wide  white  cloaks 
down  to  their  heels,  their  great  swords  at  their  side, 
their  heavy  boots  and  clattering  spurs,  though  horses 
they  had  none.  Peaceful,  friendly,  obliging  people 
they  were,  carpenters,  locksmiths,  joiners,  who,  while 
following  their  respective  trades,  were  accustomed  to 
figure  as  warriors,  so  many  times  a  month,  for  a  mode- 
rate compensation.  There  were  only  about  six  or 
eight  uniforms  for  the  whole  body,  which  were  passed 
on  from  one  to  the  other. 

Any  one  crossing  the  town  at  mid-day,  was  sure  to 
meet  an  elder  scholar,  followed  by  ten  or  twelve 
smaller  boys,  running  in  breathless  haste  through  the 
streets,  singing  a  chorus  the  while,  in  hopes  of  thus 
collecting  a  few  pence.  On  Wednesdays  and  Satur- 
days the  choristers  of  the  Gymnasium  stationed  them- 
selves, in  their  black  cloaks  and  three-cornered  hats, 
before  the  doors  of  the  wealthy,  thus,  by  means  of  their 
persevering  quartettes,  extracting  enough  to  support 
them  during  their  school  career. 

As  for  family  life  and  social  intercourse,  nothing 
could  be  more  simple.     The  men  assembled  in  the 


GOTHA.  377 

eyenings  in  groups,  composed  of  those  of  the  same 
trade  and  condition,  and  enjoyed  their  long  pipe  over 
a  glass  of  beer  ;  and  even  the  womankind  of  the  more 
cultivated  families  made  afternoon  visits  to  each  others' 
spinning-rooms. 

The  theatre  consisted  of  a  large  room  in  a  mill, 
where  all  classes,  indifferently,  might,  for  a  zwanziger, 
gain  admission  to  benches  from  whence  to  contemplate 
the  strolling  players.  Any  expensive  outlay  in  eating 
and  drinking  was  reserved  for  extraordinary  occasions; 
the  rooms  were,  according  to  the  old  fashion,  small  and 
low,  the  furniture  generally  of  deal,  was  at  the  very 
utmost  of  the  cherry-wood  of  the  district ;  and,  in 
short,  unostentatious  comfort  and  scrupulous  cleanli- 
ness everywhere  prevailed.  In  trade  and  business, 
too,  the  old  customs  still  endured.  The  different 
guilds  were  assiduous  in  preventing  those  who  were 
not  members  of  them  from  procuring  employment ;  the 
saddler  might  not  make  a  portmanteau,  the  locksmith 
was  forbidden  to  interfere  with  his  brother  of  the  anvil, 
and  the  tailors  were  sure  to  institute  a  crusade  against 
any  needlewoman  who  might  venture  to  overstep  the 
limits  of  their  peculiar  calling.  The  right  of  brewing 
was  confined  to  certain  firms,  which,  according  to  rule 
and  precedent,  supplied  the  citizens  with  a  bever- 
age, thin  and  sour  enough.  All  intercourse  with  the 
small  villages  around  was  carried  on  by  means  of  a 
walking  post,  who  indulged  in  a  perpetual  warfare 
with  the  post-ofiice  authorities  of  Thurn  and  Taxis. 
The  Thuringian  forest  was  only  traversed  by  the  Tam- 
bach  and  Schmalkalde  roads ;  and  though  the  great 
highway  through  Gotha  from  Leipzig  to  Frankfurt 
was  kept  alive  all  the  year  by  countless  wagons,  it  did 


378  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

not  yet  boast  a  mail ;  and  when  in  the  September 
of  1825,  the  first  Diligence  entered  Gotha,  the  whole 
town  asL-embled  to  gaze  upon  the  phenomenon,  and  for 
months  nothing  was  spoken  of  but  the  energy  of  the 
Postmaster-General,  Nagler,  who  had  actually  brought 
seeming  impossibilities  to  pass.  In  other  directions 
the  roads  were  impassable  after  rain,  and  journeys, 
whether  of  business  or  pleasure,  had  to  be  postponed 
till  dry  weather. 

Nor  could  any  one  have  guessed  from  the  political 
condition  of  the  Dukedom  that  it  had  belonged  for 
long  years  to  the  Rhenish  Confederacy,  and  that  Duke 
Augustus  had  been  one  of  the  most  fervent  adherents 
of  Napoleon.  The  law  of  the  land  was  still,  and  had 
been  for  ages,  a  heterogeneous  medle}^,  which  no  one 
could  understand,  and  yet  which  all  needed  to  under- 
stand in  self-defence.  The  higher  departments  of  office 
were  almost  exclusively  filled  by  the  numerous  nobles 
of  the  small  territory.  Without  an  army  in  which  to 
take  refuge,  without  state- diplomacy  in  which  to  en- 
tangle themselves,  and  without  extensive  landed  pos- 
sessions to  fill  up  their  minds,  the  nobility  assumed, 
not  indeed,  a  political  but  an  exclusive  social  position, 
partly  because  they  themselves  desired  it,  but  still 
more  because  the  untitled  classes  pressed  it  upon  them. 
The  State  College  was  at  once  the  chief  tribunal  and 
the  highest  administrative  power.  Now,  because  in 
the  solution  of  legal  difficulties  it  was  obliged  to 
decline  all  interference  from  tlie  Duke  and  his  minis- 
ters, it  grew  impatient  of  their  control  in  afi'airs  of 
civil  government  also,  and  assuming  an  attitude  of 
almost  complete  independence,  became  inactive  through 
very  arbitrariness.      The  reigning  Duke  since  1804, 


GOTHA.  879 

Augustus  Emilius,  had,  in  the  days  of  Napoleon,  avert- 
ed many  a  misfortune  from  his  country,  but  later,  his 
out-of-the-way  love-affairs,  strange  sallies,  and  way- 
ward fancies,  had  injured  his  reputation,  and  tlie 
ministers,  among  whom  was  Herr  von  Lindenau,  did 
not  exercise  an  elevating  influence  over  the  affairs  of 
the  community.  This  state  of  things  corresponds . 
closely  with  the  position  of  the  nobles  and  towns 
which,  in  the  year  1809,  united  to  form  the  Rhenish 
Confederacy.  In  short,  the  epoch  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution had  passed  away,  scarcely  leaving  a  trace  behind, 
and  in  the  year  following  the  union  of  Coburg  with 
Gotha,  and  the  personal  peculiarities  of  Duke  Ernest  ef- 
fected a  far  greater  transformation  than  the  French 
Revolution,  the  Rhenish  Confederacy,  and  the  war  of 
Independence  together. 

Although  the  political,  ecclesiastical,  and  social 
forms  of  Gotha  belonged  to  bygone  days,  yet  there 
was,  not  indeed  in  them,  but  coexistent  with  them,  an 
amount  of  life,  and  intellectual  excitement,  not  often  to 
be  met  with  in  towns  of  the  same  size.  The  Gym- 
nasium numbered  amongst  its  teachers  such  men  as 
Dciring  and  Schulze,  Ukert  and  Kries ;  Rost  and 
Wiistemann ;  the  library  had  attracted  to  Gotlia,  Fried- 
rich  Jacobi,  the  Observatory  Von  Lindenau  and 
Encke ;  Bretschneider  was  general  superintendent ; 
the  natural  sciences  were  worthily  represented  by  Yon 
Hoff  and  Von  Schlotheim  ;  Stieler  had  already  begun 
his  geographical  labors,  and  Andreas  Romberg  had, 
until  1818,  led  the  services  of  the  ducal  chapel. 

All  these  men  were  cordial  friends,  and  every  one 
was  welcome  to  their  periodical  meetings  who  possess- 
ed any  scientific  tendencies  whatsoever.     Tradesmen 


380  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

and  mechanics  were,  generally  speaking,  active  and 
enteprising.  They  had  planned  and  established,  at 
their  own  expense,  excellent  schools  for  their  own 
order,  and  many  other  useful  institutions  besides  ;  the 
educational  efforts  of  former  centuries  were  continued 
and  developed  ;  free  schools  were  carefully  supported, 
and  societies  formed  for  the  benefit  of  orphans  and 
prisoners.  The  living  influence  of  the  town  extended 
beyond  its  own  confines.  The  Fire  Insurance  Office 
established  in  1821,  and  the  preparations  for  the  Life 
Insurance  Company  which  followed,  in  1829,  the  get- 
ting up  of  the  universally  circulated  geneological 
pocket-books,  as  well  as  the  great  geographical  under- 
taking of  Justus  Perthes,  called  out  a  spirit  of  enter- 
prise on  all  sides.  Mental  influence  of  various  kinds 
was  diffused  by  the  many  born  or  educated  in  Gotha, 
and  thence  transplanted  to  German  universities,  while 
the  parents  of  the  numerous  pupils  who  flocked  to  the 
Gymnasium  from  all  parts  of  Germany,  as  well  as  from 
Denmark,  Poland,  and  Russia,  brought  with  them  for- 
eign interests  into  the  town-circle. 

With  this  fresh  and  vigorous  intellectual  life,  the 
confusion  and  deadness  prevailing  both  in  politics  and 
religion,  was  singularly  contrasted.  Here,  as  in  the 
rest  of  Germany,  the  creed  of  political  rationalism, 
handed  down  by  the  last  century,  was  combined  with 
the  national  efforts,  as  also  with  the  fantastic  charac- 
teristics resulting  from  the  war  of  independence  and 
its  concomitants. 

In  almost  every  respect,  Perthes'  new  home  afforded 
a  fair  epitome  of  the  state  of  Germany.  Death  and 
life,  disease  and  health,  reason  and  unreason,  old  and 
new,  were  in  close  juxtaposition,  as  indeed  they  are 


GOTHA.  381 

everywhere,  but  here,  perhaps,  still  more  singularly 
blended  than  elsewhere. 

Perthes  had  keenly  felt  his  departure  from  Ham- 
burgh, and  the  shadow  of  the  last  sad  months  there 
spent  followed  him  into  his  new  home.  Writing  to 
Count  Adam  Moltke,  he  says, — "  It  is  a  heavy  year 
that  lies  behind  me.  My  childhood  was  spent  in  pov- 
erty ;  as  a  youth  I  was  thrown  about  from  place  to 
place,  till,  as  a  compensation  for  all  besides,  Wands- 
beck  was  given  me  as  a  home.  Home  died  with 
Caroline.  The  gradual  removal  from  my  desolate 
house  of  objects  endeared  by  memory,  the  last  look  into 
the  now  empty  rooms,  which  for  eighteen  years  had 
been  consecrated  by  the  closest  ties,  all  this  cut  me  to 
the  heart.  We  must  be  unspeakably  guilty  in  God's 
sight,  otherwise  when  through  the  darkness  in  which 
we  walk,  light  shines  through  love,  death  would  not 
be  permitted  to  take  it  away.  My  nature  could  never 
endure  to  give  itself  up  to  a  great  and  deep  sorrow,  and 
on  this  occasion  it  was  only  the  labors  and  the  efforts, 
essential,  in  order  conscientiously  to  part  from  my 
home,  my  business,  and  my  social  and  civic  relations, 
that  enabled  me  to  bear  the  rending  of  so  many  ties 
by  which  my  very  life  seemed  bound.  Our  journey 
was  a  prosperous  one,  and  a  slight  accident  was  the 
means  of  enriching  us  with  a  pleasant  impression.  At 
a  village  near  Netra,  our  axle-tree  broke.  I  shall 
never  forget  this  little  village  of  Rittmannshausen. 
The  four-and-twenty  families  living  there  made  but 
one  ;  they  were  all  related  by  love  and  friendship,  and 
mutually  behaved  with  the  most  refined  politeness. 
The  women  were  handsome — the  lads  well  grown,  the 
men  Hessians,  who  had  seen  service,  with  their  medals 


382  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

on  their  breasts,  all  of  them  alike  intelligent  and  help- 
ful. For  twelve  hours  they  helped  Wagner  and  the 
smith,  and  I  had  difficulty  in  getting  them  to  take  any- 
thing in  return.  In  short,  I  met  with  an  idyl  in  real 
life,  which  rejoiced  my  heart.  On  the  20th  of  March, 
at  mid-day,  we  reached  Gotha.  Our  meeting  was  a 
mournful  one  without '  the  mother.'  " 

During  the  first  few  weeks  after  his  arrival,  Perthes 
was  occupied  with  the  various  small  matters  connected 
with  the  arrangement  of  his  new  way  of  life.  In  April 
he  wrote  as  follows  : — "  I  have  not  yet  begun  my  reg- 
ular habits,  the  many  things  to  be  done  just  at  first, 
and  the  presence  of  my  son  Matthias,  who  is  come  from 
Tubingen  to  see  us,  having  filled  up  the  time.  Our 
provisional  dwelling  stands  in  a  free  and  open  situa- 
tion, surrounded  just  now  by  a  very  sea  of  flowers,  and 
commanding  an  extensive  view.  We  see  the  Seeberg 
and  the  Inselsberg,  and  even  the  Brocken  in  clear 
weather.  My  daughter  Matilda  governs  the  new 
household  judiciously  and  firmly  ;  Clement  I  have  sent 
to  the  Gymnasium  ;  the  education  of  the  two  youngest 
is  provided  for,  and  the  most  necessary  visits  made. 
We  are  a  good  deal  with  my  married  daughters  and 
their  husbands,  and  I  already  foresee  that  my  new  mode 
of  life  will  suit  me.'*' 

Towards  the  end  of  April,  Perthes,  having  complet- 
ed his  necessary  family  arrangements,  was  obliged  to 
go  to  Leipzig.  But  the  impulse  given  to  the  book- 
trade  by  the  confluence,  from  all  parts  of  Germany,  of 
men  of  every  kind,  no  longer  excited  him  as  of  yore. 

In  a  letter  to  Besser  he  says  : — "  It  is  not  the  labor, 
nor  the  turmoil,  but  the  emptiness  of  the  pursuit  which 
weighs  upon  me  now.     Everything  seems  to  me  null 


GOTH A.  383 

and  void,  and  I  can  no  longer  get  up  an  interest  in 
things  as  I  used  to  do.  Many  objects  which  a  short 
time  ago  were  bright  and  varied,  have  become  grey 
and  monotonous  in  their  hue,  and  the  life  of  life  is 
over  for  me." 

In  the  middle  of  May  Perthes  returned  to  Gotha  in 
melancholy  mood.  He  again  wrote  to  Besser  : — "  My 
spirit  is  deeply  troubled.  This  returning  home  with- 
out Caroline,  without  finding  the  love,  the  fulness  of 
soul  from  which  I  drew  my  life,  is  horrible.  I  can  im- 
part nothing,  regeive  nothing,  all  is  barren  and  dead. 
My  arrival  yesterday  was  most  painful — no  welcome, 
no  life  in  our  communications  ;  the  poor  children  can- 
not supply  that  want." 

The  Countess  Augustus  Bernstorf  nee  Stolberg  wrote 
to  him  : — "  The  wilderness  within,  the  blank,  the  loss, 
— ah  !  who  knows  these  as  I  do, — the  love,  the  long- 
ing, the  home-sickness,  and  yet  the  consolation  and  the 
hope  !  Most  heartily  do  I  stretch  out  my  hands  to-' 
wards  you  ;  we  are  one  in  faith,  and  strive  towards 
the  same  goal — may  eternal  love  and  mercy  help  us  to 
reach  it !" 

However  sad  Perthes  may  have  been  during  the 
first  few  weeks  of  his  residence  in  Gotha,  this  did  not 
prevent  his  excitable  nature  from  receiving  new  im- 
pressions. He  wrote  to  Count  Moltke  : — "  Yery  nota- 
ble to  me  is  life  and  action  in  this  little  ducal  town, 
and  the  contrast  between  it  and  the  commercial  re- 
public in  which  I  have  grown  grey.  Here  there  are 
no  State  and  social  restrictions  for  me,  scarcely,  indeed, 
for  those  who  hold  office  here.  There  is  no  place 
where  one  lives  more  unconcerned  as  to  prince  or 
governments,  and  that  is  not  well  ;  for  what  import- 


384  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

ance  can  these  small  duchies  retain  unless  they  preserve 
more  intimate  relations  between  prince  and  subject 
than  is  possible  in  great  towns?"  In  a  letter  to 
Besser  we  find  him  saying  : — ''  As  I  write,  the  village 
bell  is  sounding  in  my  ears.  Last  night,  the  16th  of 
May,  Duke  Augustus  died.  All  medical  skill  was  in 
vain,  for  this  half  crazy  prince  could  not  deny  himself 
the  stimulus  of  the  hottest  spices." 

"  Perthes  writes  to  Rist : — "  The  funeral  was  a  mel- 
ancholy spectacle,  no  sympathy  shown  by  high  or  low, 
town  or  country.  The  domestic  servants  were  the  only 
mourners,  and  the  Duke's  favorite  cock,  who  was  almost 
always  with  him  night  and  day,  alone  looked  solemn 
and  tragical.  And  yet  this  prince  had  injured  and 
oppressed  no  one  ;  he  was  both  clever  and  feeling,  but 
he  was  early  ruined  by  an  education  founded  on  the 
principles  of  the  French  Encyclopedists  ;  he  took  dis- 
torted views  of  everything,  and  his  conduct  bordered 
on  insanity.  On  the  morrow,  when  the  country  heard 
of  the  death  of  the^old  Duke,  there  was  another  ready, 
and  the  Saxon  Dukes,  who  would  gladly  have  suc- 
ceeded, had  to  practise  patience,  and  not  only  to  con- 
dole upon  the  occasion  of  the  death,  but  to  congratulate 
on  that  of  the  accession.  If,  in  the  other  smaller  States, 
prince  and  people  are  not  more  closely  united  than 
they  are  here,  we  shall  have  some  ugly  experiences  to 
go  through. 

*'  The  theologians  and  philologists  are  much  the  same 
here  as  elsewhere.  Poetry  and  Art  have  no  representa- 
tives, but  we  have  no  lack  of  originals.  A  gentler,  more 
cheerful,  and  child-loving  head  of  a  school  than  Doring, 
the  director  of  the  Gymnasium,  you  could  nowhere 
find.     Though  not  far  from  his  seventieth  year,  he 


GOTH A.  385 

wears  a  grass-green  coat  and  a  sulphur-colored  waist- 
coat ;  though  decidedly  humpbacked,  he  is  a  great 
rider,  and  a  thorougli  Nimrod  ;  he  keeps  and  feeds 
singing-birds,  reads  Horace,  and  is  good-humored  and 
jovial  in  his  manner  to  his  pupils.  In  short,  society, 
in  despite  of  the  narrow  limits  of  the  town,  is  so  excit- 
ing and  many-sided,  that  one  need  never  be  obliged, 
like  Richard  Parish,  to  take  frequent  journeys,  in  order 
to  rub  off  the  cryptogamic  growths  with  which  a  long 
stay  in  one  and  the  same  place  is  apt  to  incrust  the 
human  soul." 

At  another  time  we  find  him  writing  : — "  No  one  is 
indispensable,  no  dead  man  is  long  missed  ;  the  waves 
close  over  him,  and  the  place  that  knew  him  knows 
him  no  more.  The  ambition  of  a  youth  of  talent  can- 
not refrain  from  striving  and  working  on  a  great  scale, 
but  this  will  be  the  case  with  an  older  man,  only  if  he 
be  vain  ;  if  not,  he  will  see  more  and  more  clearly  that 
he  is  surely  influencing  the  whole  when  quietly  occu- 
pied with  the  particular,  that  the  tlWng  nearest  at  hand 
is  the  right  thing  to  do,  and  that  if  there  be  a  will, 
there  is  everywhere  and  always  a  way.  It  is  without 
a  pang  that  I  find  myself  withdrawn  forever  from  all 
public  activity,  such  as  that  of  my  Hamburgh  life,  and 
I  am  thankful  that  my  outward  circumstances  do  not 
compel  me  to  summon  up  and  strain  all  my  energies, 
in  order  to  fill  my  future  position  with  credit  My 
present  occupations  and  endeavors  do  not  hinder,  they 
rather  further  my  soul's  meditation  and  the  growth  of 
my  spiritual  life.  Certainly,  I  have  often  trembled 
when  I  thought  of  the  step  I  was  about  to  take.  It 
was  no  small  matter  to  me  to  give  up  a  long-established, 
certainly  unquiet,  but  perfectly  secure  situation  for  a 
17 


386  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

new  and  certainly  quiet,  but  by  no  means  an  assured 
future.  However,  if  one  ever  wishes  to  make  a  de- 
cided change  in  life,  it  must  be  while  one  has  still 
strength  not  only  to  break  off  from  the  old,  but  to 
found  the  new,  otherwise  there  results  a  wretched  half- 
and-half  existence,  full  of  divided  regrets  and  weak 
yearnings  after  the  past,  and  a  depressed  disposition, 
which  unfits  for  business,  and  never  can  prosper.  Ten 
years  later  I  should  not  have  been  able  to  carry  out  my 
resolve  ;  now  God  will  help  me  onward." 


XXXIV. 


Wl 


M 


^ERTHES,  as  we  are  already  aware,  had  made 
over  his  prosperous  Hamburgh  business  to  his 
brother-in-law,  Besser,  and  chosen  Gotha  for 
a  residence,  with  the  view  of  establishing  a 
publishing  business  there.  He  writes, — "  I 
am  too  old  to  take  part  in  the  disputes  of  the 
different  writers.  As  a  publisher,  I  have  to 
remember  that  when  Peter  was  hungry  and  would  eat, 
he  saw  a  sheet  filled  with  creatures  of  every  kind  let 
down  before  him.  Now,  a  publisher  is  not  exactly  in 
the  same  plight  as  to  killing  and  eating,  but  he  has  to 
collect  historians  of  all  sorts,  whether  wild  beasts  or 
fowls  of  the  air,  and  so  to  get  the  History  of  Europe 
written." 

While  Perthes  was  thus  collecting  all  his  energies 
to  lay  the  foundation  of  his  new  business,  he  had  at  the 
same  time  to  dissolve  his  Hamburgh  connections,  and 
to  settle  matters  w^ith  his  old  partner  Besser.  Accord- 
ingly he  wrote^  to  him  : — "  We  must  settle  our  affairs 
as  soon  as  possible,  for  if  one  of  us  were  to  die  before 
this  were  done,  inevitable  confusion  and  mischief  would 
ensue,  for  then  law  would  settle  what  we  arrange  as 
brothers :  therefore  I  urge  you  to  make  all  possible 
speed.     After  all,  when  this  is  over,  I  shall  not  be 

(387) 


388  CAROl.IXE    PERTHES. 

estranged  even  from  your  affairs  ;  (from  yourself  I 
never  could  be  so  :)  but  I  shall  watch  them  with  delight 
and  sympathy,  and  in  many  things  we  shall  be  able  to 
help  each  other  as  long  as  we  live."  The  only  diffi- 
culty attending  the  dissolution  of  partnership  between 
these  two  brothers  in  mind  and  heart,  arose  from  each 
thinking  himself  too  much  benefited  by  the  propositions 
made  by  the  other.  However,  matters  were  soon  ar- 
ranged, and  upon  the  occasion  of  his  retirement  from 
the  Hamburgh  establishment,  Perthes  wrote  to  Besser  : 
— "  We  have  now,  dear  brother,  worked  together  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  carrying  on  one  and  the  same 
concern  in  troublous  times.  Not  once  have  we  taken 
different  views  as  to  '  meum  and  tuum  ; '  not  for  one 
moment  during  all  those  years  have  we  ever  felt  it 
possible  to  waver  in  our  mutual  confidence.  Let  us 
thank  God  that  at  the  hour  of  parting  that  confidence 
is  as  firm  and  pure  as  it  has  been  during  our  long-asso- 
ciated life.  Such  happiness  in  such  degree  is  vouch- 
safed to  few." 

Despite  the  great  amount  of  labor  which  his  calling 
and  his  temperament  alike  imposed  upon  him,  Perthes, 
during  the  first  year  of  his  life  in  Gotha,  found  time 
to  make  more  or  less  distant  excursions  into  the  sur- 
rounding country.  In  the  beginning  of  August  he 
visited  the  Rudolstadt  and  Altenburg  district ;  and 
later  in  August  he  went  for  a  few  weeks  to  Franconia 
and  Bavaria.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  says  : — 
"When,  on  the  13th  of  September  last,  I  left  Gotha 
at  mid-day,  a  magnificent  thunder-storm  accompanied 
me  over  the  heights  of  the  Thuringian  Forest.  I 
travelled  in  the  diligence,  a  nine-seated  monster,  on 
the  top  of  which  a  seat  is  built  for  two  people.     If, 


389 


from  this  perch,  where  one  knows  nothing  of  the  heavy 
vehicle  behind,  one  watches  the  six  horses  toiling  up 
the  hill,  the  mind  naturally  reverts  to  our  humanity, 
which  often  forgets  the  heavy  body  there  is  no  shaking 
off,  and  then  childishly  wonders  at  the  trouble  it  gives 
us  to  rise.  A  diligence  like  this  (I  mean  the  actual 
Thurn  and  Taxis  conveyance)  is  convenient  and  rapid 
in  comparison  with  those  of  earlier  days  ;  but  yet  it 
requires  that  the  passengers  should  be  good-humored, 
not  over-sensitive,  and  not  in  a  hurry.  As  for  con- 
ductors, they  are  always  wet  or  dusty.  Mine  made 
pious  reflections  during  the  thunder-storm,  and  did  not 
lose  a  moment  in  taking  up  five  blind  passengers, 
whom  I  could  not  see,  as  they  got  in  during  the  night, 
and  out  before  daybreak.  But  I,  the  only  seeing  pas- 
senger, had  to  take  the  conductor's  place,  not  only  at 
the  customary  halting-places,  but  at  every  intervening 
public-house,  where  he  was  minded  to  play  a  game  at 
cards  with  the  postilion.  In  Schwallungen  I  heard  an 
enlightened  watchman  cry,  '  The  hammer  has  struck 
one,'  instead  of '  the  bell  has  struck  one.'  In  Hildburg- 
hausen  I  ate  at  the  same  table  with  two  of  the  prince's 
retainers,  the  one  a  valet,  just  out  of  bed,  the  other  a 
sweep,  just  out  of  the  chimney.  The  barefooted  blacka- 
moor was  a  fine-looking  fellow,  and  discussed  great 
European  events  better  than  many  a  professor.  How- 
ever, at  Coburg,  which  I  reached  on  the  evening  of 
the  14th,  I  grew  tired  of  the  whole  concern,  took  a 
carriage,  and  drove  to  Baireuth."  He  then  passed 
through  the  valley  of  the  Maine  to  Baireuth,  where  he 
remained  some  days. 

In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  Perthes  writes  : — "As  you 
were  once  rather  an  idolater  of  Jean  Paul,  you  shall 


890  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

hear  something  about  the  impression  his  personality 
made  upon  me.  It  is  better,  however,  I  am  well  aware, 
to  speak  than  to  write  about  things  and  persons,  that 
in  the  course  of  one's  travels  one  may  have  become 
more  or  less  acquainted  with.  How  many  opinions 
and  judgments  are  only  rightly  understood  by  means 
of  the  commentary  of  voice  and  manner!  A  good- 
natured  smile  softens  the  spoken  word,  and  if  the  lis- 
tener should  take  a  matter  too  seriously,  an  additional 
word  removes  the  misapprehension.  But  what  is 
written  remains  hard,  cold,  rigid,  and  unalterable,  and 
often  the  reader  views  as  black  what  the  writer  at 
most  meant  only  to  paint  as  grey.  In  letters  written 
on  a  journey,  and  conveying  the  impressions  of  the 
moment,  one  cannot  be  conscientious  enough  in  one's 
opinions  about  people.  Meanwhile,  since  I  cannot 
speak,  I  needs  must  write.  I  went  at  eight  in  the 
morning  to  Jean  Paul.  A  tall,  strong,  bony  figure, 
like  that  of  a  farmer  or  a  forester,  entered  the  room, 
dressed  in  a  hunting-coat,  with  a  badger's  skin  over 
his  shoulder,  and  leading  a  white  poodle  by  a  string. 
As  we  had  long  been  correspondents,  we  were  soon  in 
full  talk.  I  spent  two  evenings  with  him,  the  first  in 
his  own  house,  the  second  at  that  of  Madame  von 
Kettenburg's.  Not  only  was  a  court  lady  of  the  name 
of  Stein  present  on  both  occasions,  but  the  newly  mar- 
ried Count  and  Countess  Henckel-Donnersmarck. 
The  wish  to  appear  in  the  best  light,  excited  Jean 
Paul,  and,  accustomed  as  he  is  only  to  be  listend  to, 
my  sudden  interpolations  interrupted  him,  and  the  con- 
sequence was,  that  while  he  proved  liimself  a  worthy 
truth-loving  man,  and  although  the  conversation 
turned  on   the   leading   men    and   leading  events  in 


PERTHES'   VIEWS   OF   MEN   AND   THINGS.  391 

Church  and  State,  life  and  literature,  I  did  not  hear 
him  utter  one  significant  word,  one  deep  view,  one  re- 
sult of  great  inner  experience  :  his  conversation  was 
throughout  wearisome  and  obscure.  He  gave  us  the 
narrative  of  his  daily  life,  as  follows  :  '  In  the  summer 
at  six,  in  the  winter  at  eight,  I  walk  about  half  a  mile 
to  Frau  SchabenzeFs  (an  old  countrywoman  ;)  the 
poodle  goes  with  me  ;  I  carry  my  papers  and  a  bottle 
in  my  badger's  skin  ;  there  I  work  and  drink  my  wine 
till  one  o'clock  ;  then  I  do  not  drink  again,  but  from 
five  to  seven  I  drink  my  beer  as  long  as  there  is  any 
in  the  jug.  For  half  an  hour  Jean  Paul  put  us  to 
sleep  with  receipts  for  sleeping.  None  of  the  light- 
ning flashes  and  scintillations  of  fancy,  the  striking 
similes,  or  the  glowing  pictures  with  which  his  works 
abound,  appeared  in  his  conversation  !  I  left  him  con- 
vinced that  the  man  who,  as  an  author,  belongs  to 
the  teuderest  and  richest  minds  of  Germany,  is  not, 
therefore,  necessarily  tender  and  soft-hearted.  After 
Jean  Paul,  I  felt  most  interest  about  a  certain  Coun 
cillor  Kraus.  In  order  to  get  at  him,  I  applied  to 
Jean  Paul,  having  heard  that  they  had  been  friends 
for  years.  '  We  are  old  friends,  it  is  true,'  said  he,  '  but 
now  we  no  longer  meet.  But  go  to  him,  and  say,  that 
though  I  never  will  have  anything  to  do  with  him  my- 
self, I  have  sent  you  to  him.'  Accordingly,  I  went. 
I  had  to  go  up  a  steep  stair,  at  the  top  of  which  was 
a  closed  lattice,  and  outside  hung  a  long  wooden  ham- 
mer, with  an  inscription  above  to  this  effect ;  *  He  who 
will  enter  must  knock  hard  ;  if  the  hammer  is  inside  I 
am  not  to  be  seen.'  So  I  knocked  hard,  and  the  door 
was  opened.  As  I  entered  a  large  library,  which 
swarmed  with  cats  of  every  age  and  color,  a  friendly 


392  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

old  man,  a  bachelor  with  silver  hair,  and  in  a  long 
dressing-gown,  advanced  to  meet  me.  After  I  had 
playfully  delivered  Jean  Paul's  message,  we  fell  into 
conversation.  '  Jean  Paul,'  said  he,  *  is  a  thoroughly 
upright,  feeling,  good  man,  rich  in  heart  and  mind,  but 
the  blossoms  of  his  nature  will  never  ripen  into  fruit, 
because  he  has  not  strength  thoroughly  and  scientifi- 
cally to  mature  any  subject ;  he  knows  much,  but  all 
he  knows  is  in  disorder  and  confusion,  and  now  that 
his  own  mind  can  create  nothing  further,  he  has  fallen 
into  all  sorts  of  follies.'  Kraus  and  I  parted  excellent 
friends.  '  Farewell,  my  dear  good  foe,'  said  he,  as  I 
rattled  down  the  steps.  I  have  found  out  since  then, 
that  Kraus,  together  with  Lang,  wrote  the  well-known 
journey  to  Haramelburg." 

From  Baireuth,  Perthes  went  for  a  few  days  with 
the  son  of  the  bookseller,  Grau,  to  the  Fichtelgebirge, 
and  wandered  on  foot  to  Kemnath.  "  This  is  the  true 
home  of  the  German  kobolds,  dwarfs,  and  little  moun- 
tain spirits,  this  barren,  gloomy  mountain  range,  whose 
far-stretching  dark  ridges,  mighty  detached  granite 
blocks,  and  long  winding  valleys,  make  a  deep,  if  not 
a  pleasing  impression  on  the  traveller.  Everything 
here  is  grey  and  mysterious.  The  rock  is  hardly 
covered  with  earth  ;  stunted  fir-trees,  with  ragged 
foliage,  heath,  and  blackberry  bushes,  give  the  district 
all  it  has  of  color,  and  dark  moss  shrouds  trees  and 
stones,  hills  and  valleys  alike.  Colossal  rock-masses 
are  heaped  together  in  hundreds  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Luchsberg ;  some  of  them  rounded,  some  table- 
shaped,  but  all  perfectly  detached,  and  most  of  them 
in  the  boldest  positions,  a  world  in  fragments,  a  true 
picture  of  the  ruins  of  the  old  German  empire.     Here 


PERTHES'   VIEWS   OF   MEX   AND   THINGS.  393 

we  were  overtaken  by  a  heavy  thunder-storm.  '  That's 
a  loud  noise,'  said  our  guide,  '  but  there  was  a  louder 
one  when  these  stones  were  rolled  together  here." 
Another  time  he  pointed  a  rock  out  to  us,  '  called  the 
Prince's  Head,  but  if  closely  looked  at,'  he  said,  '  you 
will  see  that  it  is  an  inverted  heart.'  He  was  a  rough 
man,  this  guide  of  ours,  but  full  of  sense  and  wit,  and 
his  talk  was  one  series  of  bold,  lively  pictures.  What 
he  had  heard  from  others  he  told  in  good  German,  but 
he  gave  his  own  thoughts  in  the  rude  yet  melodious 
patois  of  the  mountains." 

Perthes'  life  flowed  on  in  uniform  and  undisturbed 
occupations  from  the  autumn  of  1822  till  that  of  1825. 
We  find  him  writing, — "  The  day,  which,  according  to 
Pist,  was  to  consist  of  forty-eight  hours  in  Gotha,  is 
still,  as  in  Hamburgh,  too  short  for  me,  and  yet  there 
is  time  enough  if  reckoned  by  hours,  not  days,  for 
every  one's  work."  In  another  letter  he  says  : — "  My 
home-circle  and  those  of  my  sons-in-law,  who  are  both 
intimate  friends  of  mine,  fill  up  my  idle  hours.  Wil- 
liam Perthes  is  the  same  stable,  firm,  determined  char- 
acter he  ever  was  ;  combining  a  healthy  intellect  and 
a  warm  heart  as  few  others  do.  Among  the  younger 
men,  I  most  frequently  see  Fritz  Becker,  Encke,  and 
Ewald  ;  Jacobi  and  Ukert  among  the  elder." 

The  uniformity  of  Perthes'  life  was  broken  in  upon 
also  by  visits  from  such  men  as  Heeren,  Eehberg, 
Harms,  Savigny,  and  many  of  his  Hamburgh  friends. 
Perthes,  who  up  to  the  last  year  of  his  life  delighted 
in  long  walks,  began  during  this  period  to  explore  the 
Thuringian  forest  in  all  directions,  sometimes  visiting 
familiar  spots,  such  as  Schwarzburg,  Liebenstein,  &c., 
and  sometimes,  accompanied  by  his  boys  or  his  son-in- 
17^ 


394  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

law,  William  Perthes,  making  his  way  through  remote 
valleys,  and  exploring  solitary  crags,  thoroughly  enjoy- 
ing the  discovery  of  new  wood-paths,  ravines,  and 
views,  as  well  as  the  little  difficulties  and  inconven- 
iences attendant  upon  such,  ra^mbles. 

In  the  beginning  of  September,  Perthes,  accompanied 
by  his  two  unmarried  daughters,  went  to  Hamburgh  to 
settle  his  affairs  there.  "  If  this  journey  were  not 
necessary,"  wrote  he,  "  it  would  not  be  taken,  for  a  stay 
in  Hamburgh  will  be  to  me  a  look  into  the  grave,  and 
yet  it  is  well  for  man's  frivolous  nature  to  have  some- 
times the  pain  of  ending  before  his  own  end  comes." 

The  weeks  he  spent  there  were  restless  ones  indeed ; 
hard  work,  melancholy  reminiscences,  his  relatives,  as 
well  as  his  countless  friends  and  acquaintances,  civic 
interests,  great  dinner-parties  daily,  an  excursion  to 
Liibeck,  and  a  visit  to  Count  Moltke,  divided  his  time. 
He  entered  with  much  animation  into  all  these  various 
interests.  Haller  tells  him  in  a  subsequent  letter  : — 
*'  I  found  you  younger  in  mind  and  older  in  mildness 
of  temper." — "  Your  stay  here,"  Rist  playfully  wrote, 
"has  been  a  perfect  ovation." 

Meanwhile  his  third  daughter  had  betrothed  herself 
to  Frederick  Becker  in  Gotha,  who,  as  soon  as  he  had 
received  her  consent,  hurried  off  to  Hamburgh,  and 
there  remained  till  Perthes  left.  Perthes  had  written 
a  year  before  to  Besser  : — "  Of  all  the  friends  of  my 
sons-in  law,  Becker  suits  me  best ;  he  is  a  noble-hearted 
good  man,  thoroughly  intelligent,  and  well-informed  ; 
indulgent  to  others,  and,  perhaps,  only  too  severe 
towards  himself.  One  may  learn  from  him  the  nature 
and  influence  of  truly  conscientious  order." — To  an- 
other friend  he  writes  : — "You  have  heard  from  me  of 


PERTHES'    VIEWS   OF   MEN    AND   THINGS.  395 

my  warm  attacliment  to  Becker,  and  will,  therefore, 
readily  believe  that  I  am  rejoiced  to  give  my  child  to 
him." 

Towards  the  end  of  October,  Perthes,  accompanied 
by  Becker,  returned  through  Bremen  to  Gotha. 

Soon  after,  the  following  letter  was  written  to  Rist : 
''I  look  back  with  gratitude  to  my  stay  in  Hamburgh, 
where  I  met  with  so  mucli  love  and  confidence.  Some 
degree  of  self-complacency  will  mingle  with  the  recol- 
lection of  how  poor,  destitute,  and  dependent  upon  my 
own  exertions  I  was,  when  I  first  entered  it  thirty  years 
ago.  Our  journey  home  was  prosperous,  and  fraught 
with  small  incidents.  On  the  way  between  Hamburgh 
and  Harburg,  the  steamboat  had  to  lie  to  several  times 
in  a  thick  fog  ;  the  Duke  of  Oldenburg  was  on  board  ; 
the  passage  lasted  seven  whole  hours,  and  the  honor 
of  his  presence,  of  course,  for  the  same  time.  We 
talked  over  every  conceivable  subject  by  way  of  diver- 
sion. Amongst  other  things  the  question  was  put 
whetlier  one  would  like  to  live  one's  life  over  again, 
and  whether  it  were  not  to  be  wished  that  the  duration 
of  man's  full  powers  extended  from  twenty  to  fifty 
years,  or  even  longer.  I  negatived  both  these  propo- 
sitions, the  first,  because,  amidst  all  the  pleasures  of 
this  life,  men  have  still  a  yearning  after  their  departure 
from  it ;  the  second,  because  a  prolonged  grant  of  life's 
full  powers  did  not  improve  men  themselves,  and  woulcj, 
by  confirming  them  in  pride,  make  them  a  terror  to 
others.  But  the  old  gentleman  seemed  to  know  nothing 
of  the  yearning  I  spoke  of,  and  the  continuance  of 
bodily  powers  seemed  to  him  inexpressibly  desirable. 
He  stated  that  in  his  youth  he  had  been  very  hasty  and 
passionate,  so  much  so  that,  when  he  first  joined  tl^e 


396  CAROLINE    PEP.TFIES. 

array,  his  Colonel  had  said  to  him, — *  Prince,  you  will 
be  lost  in  four  weeks  unless  you  learn  to  control  your- 
self.'    '  But,'  continued  the  Duke,  '  I  did  control  myself, 
and  I  am  no  lono-er  passionate,  impatient,  or  hard, 
though  no  occupation  affords  more  temptation  to  be  so 
than  mine.'     At  which  his  adjutant  sighed  deeply,  and 
stroked  his  moustache,  and  his  chamberlain  made  des- 
perate attempts  to  look  as  he  ought.     Then  the  Cap- 
tain asked  whether  he  might  fire  a  salute  in  the  Duke's 
honor  ;  '  Yes,'  was  the  reply,  '  if  the  ladies  permit  it' 
The  ladies  did  permit  it,  but  the  bottles  of  the  Restaur- 
ateur were  terrified  to  pieces  to  his  comic  distress.    The 
Duke  made  it  up  to  him,  and  then  the  whole  crew  drank 
to  the  Duke's  health  out  of  the  broken  bottles,  and,  in 
short,  there  was  nothing  for  it,  nolens  volens,  but  getting 
into  the  best  possible  humor.     As  the  Duke  took  leave 
of  me  he  said  '  that  Providence  had  compensated  for 
the  length  of  the  journey  by  my  good  fellowship.'     To 
make  up  for  lost  time  we  travelled  by  night  to  Bre- 
men, where  I  found  our  friend  Smidt  clieerful  and  active 
as  of  old,  and  had  great  pleasure  in  the  friendly  and 
intellectual  society  of  the  place.     I  have  visited  Ham- 
burgh, Ltibeck,  and  Bremen  in  succession,  and  it  was 
striking  enough  to  see  the  contrasts  between  these  in- 
dependent powers,  and  to  walk  through  their  states, 
that  is,  their  streets !     After  the  excitement  of  all  this 
travelling,  quiet  and  occupation  will  do  both  soul  and 
body  good." 

During  the  winter  of  1823,  Perthes  had  not  only  his 

betrothed  daughter,  but  his  eldest  son  Matthias  at  home. 

As  the  spring  of  1824  approached,  Perthes  resolved 

to  go,  for  a  few  weeks,  to  Bonn  and  Frankfurt,  and  his 

letters  to  his  children  and  to  Hamburgh  friends  give  an 


PERTHES'   VIEWS   OP   MEN   AND   THINGS.  397 

account  of  liis  way  of  life  there.  Here  is  one  of  them : 
"  When  I  left  you  on  Monday  evening,  I  had  to  scram- 
ble over  legs,  carpet-bags,  and  cloaks,  and,  with  much 
difficulty,  to  take  my  place  as  number  six,  in  the  middle 
of  the  back  seat — five  people  being  in  already — but  it 
was  too  dark  to  see  their  faces.  A  light  that  we  passed 
threw  a  momentary  ray  over  an  odd-looking  figure  who 
went  on  with  a  discussion  which  my  entrance  had  in- 
terrupted, about  Walter  Scott's  account  of  the  Battle 
of  Waterloo.  The  speaker  was  a  Scotchman,  and  after 
a  week  spent  on  the  field,  having  been  a  good  deal  dis- 
gusted with  pretended  mementos  of  the  battle,  he  had 
begun  to  dig  himself,  and  had  had  the  good  luck  at 
length  to  find  a  hero's  skull,  which  he  carried  away, 
confident  that  he  should  easily  find  out  to  what  nation 
it  belonged,  as  a  friend  of  his  had  once  upon  a  time 
attended  Blumenbach's  lectures.  '  Devil  take  the  fel- 
low, leave  skulls  alone,  and  the  dead  to  rest  in  their 
graves,'  muttered  a  deep  voice  in  the  corner  next  to  me. 
'What  do  you  mean,  sir  ?' answered  the  Scotchman, 
hastily.  In  short  the  quarrel  had  begun,  hot  words 
passed — the  Scotchman  got  the  worst  of  it ;  we  had 
universal  commotion  in  a  dark  box,  and  no  one  knew 
what  would  come  of  it.  *  Messieurs,'  said  a  young 
good-humored  voice,  '  shall  I  show  the  Scotch  gentle- 
man, for  his  collection,  the  letter  of  the  Chinese  that  I 
met  in  Halle  ?'  The  Scot  pricked  his  ears,  forgot  the 
rebuke  he  had  received,  and  thought  only  of  the  genuine 
Chinese  document.  Peace  was  restored,  and  at  Eisen- 
ach, on  went  the  whole  party,  skull  and  all,  to  Frank- 
furt, I  diverging  to  Cassel,  which  1  reached  after  a 
journey  of  seventy-seven  hours.  We  seldom  see  princely 
splendor,  handsome  palaces,  and  the  independent  tur- 


398  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

moil  of  trade,  brought  in  such  close  juxtaposition  as  in 
Cassel.  I  spent  the  evening  with  the  brothers  Grimm  ; 
they  are  the  same  as  they  were  ten  years  ago,  and  yet 
different  too.  Then  they  were  almost  feminine  in  their 
bloom,  filled  with  the  tender  dreams  and  hopes  of  youth, 
now  they  are  almost  exclusively  devoted  to  severe 
study." 

Perthes  spent  a  few  weeks  at  Bonn,  in  the  house  of 
liis  brother-in-law  Max  Jacobi.  He  writes,  "  The  be- 
ing with  my  dear  old  brother.  Max,  and  with  my  Car- 
oline's sister,  who,  in  sprightliness  and  mental  gifts,  is 
all  she  was  five-and-twenty  years  ago,  reminded  me 
vividly  of  a  time  now  long  past,  when  I  too  was  rich. 
No  one  knows  what  a  poor  human  heart  feels,  when 
such  echoes  of  a  vanished  world  pierce  his  soul.  The 
joy  of  meeting  was  mingled  with  grief ;  the  joy  I 
shared  with  others,  and  kept  the  grief  to  myself." 

With  the  theologians,  Sack,  Nitsch,  and  Liicke,  with 
Welcker,  Brandis,  Arndt,  and  many  others,  Perthes 
was  very  intimate,  and  much  enjoyed  their  companion- 
ship. But  he  was,  above  all,  impressed  by  his  first 
meeting  again  with  Niebuhr.  A  warm  political  quar- 
rel had,  in  1814,  separated  the  two  old  friends,  and 
though  it  had  been  long  ago  made  up  by  letter,  yet 
they  had  not  since  met.  From  Bonn  Perthes  wrote  to 
Besscr  : — "  I  was  prepared  for  a  painful  meeting,  and 
should  not  have  wondered  at  a  distant  manner,  or 
formal  bearing  on  Niebuhr 's  part,  but  the  very  mo- 
ment I  saw  him,  I  found  the  old  heart  and  the  old 
friend,  and  there  was  not  a  shadow  of  reserve  between 
us.  His  wife  had  just  given  birth  to  her  second  son, 
and  the  three  elder  children  were  running  about  their 
father's  room,  with  all  tlieir  playthings  ;  and  during 


PERTHES'   VIEWS   OF   MEN   AND   THINGS.  399 

our  conversation,  I  was  engaged  first  with  one  and 
then  with  the  other  of  them.  For  five  days  I  daily 
spent  several  hours  with  him.  Our  conversatioi^was 
almost  entirely  political.  Niebuhr's  disposition  is  very 
melancholy  ;  the  purer  his  heart,  the  deeper  his  sensi- 
bilities, the  more  he  feels  the  want  of  some  firm  sup- 
port for  his  soul  ;  he  fights  with  uncertainty,  and  quar- 
rels with  life.  He  said  to  me,  '  I  am  weary  of  life, 
only  the  children  bind  me  to  it.'  He  repeatedly  ex- 
pressed the  bitterest  contempt  for  mankind  ;  and,  in 
short,  the  spiritual  condition  of  this  remarkable  man 
cuts  me  to  the  heart,  and  his  outpourings  alternately 
elevated  and  horrified  me.  To  see  such  a  heart  and 
mind  in  the  midst  of  the  convulsions  of  oui*  time  gives 
a  deep  insight  into  the  machinery  of  our  poor  hu- 
man life.  Niebuhr  needs  a  friend  who  would  be  a 
match  for  him  ;  he  has  not  one  such  in  the  world.  The 
wealth  of  his  intellect  and  the  extent  of  his  knowl- 
edge are  absolutely  appalling,  but  his  knowledge  of 
the  present  is  only  the  result  of  historical  inquiry  and 
political  calculations — he  does  not  understand  individ- 
ual or  national  life.  '  I  do  know  and  understand  the 
people,'  replied  he,  when  I  made  the  above  remark  to 
him  ;  '  I  read,  and  inquire,  and  hear  ;  and  my  resi- 
dence abroad  has  aff'orded  me  an  impartial  point  of 
view.'  And  yet  I  maintain,  he  lias  no  knowledge  of 
human  nature.  One  thing  I  am  more  and  more  sure 
of :  men  of  giant  intellect  and  high  imagination  are 
little  fitted  to  govern  ;  the  practical  man,  if  he  will 
avail  himself  of  the  intellect  of  others,  makes  the  best 
minister." 

A  few  days  after  Perthes  had  left  Bonn,  Niebuhr 
wrote  to  him  as  follows  :    "  The  unlooked-for  pleasure 


100  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

of  seeing  you  again  still  remains  in  the  form  of  mem- 
ory ;  your  visit  has  awakened  the  illusion  that  old 
time§  have  not  quite  vanished.  And  yet  they  have  ; 
and  could  I  become  a  sceptic,  I  should  begin  by  deny- 
ing a  man's  identity  at  different  epochs  of  life." 

Pertlies  wrote  in  reply,  "  You  yourself  would  afford 
me  a  proof  of  identity  if  I  needed  one.  Only  look 
within  you,  how  love  has  endured,  how  much  you  are 
still  the  same !  Thirty  years  ago  I  have  seen  that 
very  same  love  shine  forth  from  your  whole  being, 
which  still  has  power  to  melt  all  the  frost,  and  rub 
away  all  the  rust  of  the  world." 

In  1818,  E.  M.  Arndt  had  been  appointed  Professor 
of  History  in  the  Bonn  University  ;  in  1820,  he  was 
forbidden  to  teach  ;  in  1821,  he  was  subjected  to  an 
inquiry  instituted  on  the  plea  of  demagogical  strata- 
gems ;  but  do  what  he  would,  he  could  not  obtain  a 
decision  one  way  or  another.  Perthes  had  never  seen 
him  before,  but  they  had  corresponded  long,  and  had 
many  mutual  friends. 

He  writes  from  Bonn, — "  Arndt  is  just  what  I  had 
pictured  him, — sound-hearted,  stable,  lively  and  clev- 
er in  conversation,  never  wearisome  with  his  etymo- 
logical and  historical  derivatives,  odd  as  they  often 
sound.  Everywhere  the  poet  peeps  out,  and  it  always 
does  one  good  to  hear  his  just  and  discriminating  views 
of  men,  even  of  those  who  have  done  him  wrong. 
His  hard  fate  has  left  no  trace  of  bitterness  in  him  ; 
and  his  good  heart  peeps  out  through  whatever  hasty 
cxpr;\^sion  he  may,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  utter. 
The  many  points  of  contact  afforded  us  by  our  past 
lives  soon  made  us  feel  intimate.  He  has  been  very 
unjustly  treated,  and  that  is  Niebuhr's  opinion  as  well 


VIEWS   OP   MEN   AND   THINGS.  401 

as  mine.  He  is  an  imaginative  man,  and  exciting  and 
stimulating  to  the  young,  but  that  Avas  well  known  be- 
fore his  appointment,  for  his  whole  character,  as  well  as 
his  writings,  is  perfectly  transparent.  And  now  there 
he  is,  in  a  beautifully-situated  house,  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  from  the  town,  but  without  any  scope  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  rare  talents." 

Perthes  spent  several  mornings  with  A.  W.  Schlegel, 
and  writes  about  him  thus  :  "  We  had  not  seen  each 
other  for  years.  At  first  Schlegel  gave  me  a  stately 
reception  ;  but  old  recollections  of  former  meetings 
soon  made  him  open,  tender,  and  natural  in  his  cor- 
diality. It  was  in  1793,  just  after  his  marriage,  that  I 
first  saw  Schlegel  ;  then  we  met  in  1803  and  1805  in 
Leipzig  and  Dresden  ;  in  the  summer  of  1813,  I  spent 
Bome  weeks  with  him  ;  and  again,  in  the  December  of 
the  same  year  we  had  a  very  pleasant  day  in  Saalsund 
in  Hanover,  w^ith  Rehberg,  Smidt,  Sieveking,  and  Ben- 
jamin Constant.  These  old  pictures  having  first  flit- 
ted past  us,  the  political  and  religious  opinions  of  past 
days  gave  way  to  the  present.  Schlegel  expressed 
himself  very  strikingly  about  the  men  and  the  occur- 
rences of  our  own  time.  I  called  his  attention  to  the 
importance,  historically  speaking,  of  a  new  collection 
and  edition  of  his  works.  He  owes  it  to  the  history 
of  our  literature,  to  show  the  origin  and  the  aim  of 
his  detached  essays,  so  as  to  prevent  further  misunder- 
standing and  confusion,  for  liowever  different  the  de- 
cisions of  different  parties  respecting  him  may  be,  still 
his  views,  his  criticisms,  his  praise  and  blame,  will 
have  considerable  influence  over  our  literature  for  all 
time.  Schlegel  agreed  with  me,  and  remarked  that  he 
must  needs  be  much  misunderstood,  for  that  his  labors 


402  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

in  the  early  part  of  his  life  had  almost  entirely  con- 
sisted in  reactionary  eiforts  against  particular  errors 
and  perversions,  and  that  his  views  had  met  with  such 
a  one-sided  apprehension,  and  been  carried  to  such  ex- 
tremes by  his  adherents,  that  he  had  subsequently  been 
obliged,  for  truth's  sake,  to  appear  as  their  opponent. 
But  he  added,  that  his  position,  in  regard  to  his  broth- 
er Frederick,  prevented  an  edition  of  his  collective 
works.  They  had  formerly  accomplished  the  greater 
part  of  these  together,  but  their  opinions  were  now 
diametrically  opposed  on  the  most  important  subjects. 
He  could  not  give  up  his  own  convictions,  and  his 
feelings  forbade  him  publicly  to  oppose  his  brother.  I 
then  requested  him  to  prepare  a  posthumous  collection 
of  his  works,  saying,  that  when  our  race  is  run,  natural 
ties  cease  to  fetter,  and  that  the  open  confession  of 
what  each  held  to  be  truth  would  do  honor  to  both. 
Schlegel  spoke  very  openly  of  his  relations  with  Nie- 
buhr.  The  latter  is  so  offended  with  his  criticisms  on  his 
Roman  History,  that  he  will  not  see  him.  '  Niebuhr,' 
says  Schlegel,  '  has  no  ground  for  this  ;  no  one  made 
such  efforts  as  I  to  follow  him  in  his  investigations  in 
all  directions,  and  this  is  the  highest  proof  of  appre- 
ciation and  respect.  Niebuhr  might  have  forgiven  me 
a  few  witticisms  and  jests,  which  he  knew  to  be  a  part 
of  my  nature  ;  but  so  it  is,  no  one  in  Germany  under- 
stands criticism,  and  so  I  keep  to  myself  my  opinion 
of  Yoss'  performances,  though  I  could  express  it  in 
three  words.  I  begged  him  to  tell  them  me,  and  he 
replied, '  Voss  has  enriched  our  literature  with  a  stony 
Homer,  a  wooden  Shakspeare,  and  a  leathern  Aris- 
tophanes.' Schlegel  took  me  to  see  his  Indian  print- 
ing ofifice,  and  I  could  not  but  admire  the  simplicity 


PERTHES'    VIEWS   OF   MEN   AND   THINGS.  403 

and  practical  wisdom  of  his  arrangements  ;  indeed,  on 
this  occasion  I  saw  nothing  but  the  good  side  of  liis 
character.  His  faults  are  better  known  than  those  of 
most  of  us,  and  every  one  speaks  of  his  incredible  van- 
ity, but  it  lies  so  on  the  surface,  that  one  can  hardly 
suppose  it  sinks  deep.  He  has  always  been  distin- 
guished for  strict  conscientiousness  in  all  affairs  of 
business,  and  now  he  is  firmly  attached  to  Bonn,  and  a 
regular  and  active  life  may  still  further  improve  him. 
Good-natured  he  certainly  is,  if  not  exasperated  or 
tempted  by  a  sally  of  wit." 

On  the  9th  of  April  Perthes  arrived  at  Frankfurt. 
In  a  letter  to  Besser,  he  says,  "  I  have  done  and  seen 
much  here  in  a  few  days.  The  first  morning  I  spent 
with  Friedrich  Schlosser,  and  there  met  his  brother 
Christian  again,  who  had  just  come  from  Paris.  With 
his  smothered  ardor,  his  cold  liveliness,  and  his  curt 
cutting  sentences,  he  is  really  a  remarkable  man,  and 
a  striking  contrast  to  his  gentle  and  lovable  brother." 

"Yesterday,"  wrote  Perthes  a  few  days  later,  "  I  had 
to  dine  twice  :  at  two  o'clock  with  Schlosser,  and  at 
four  with  Gries,  who  had  invited  several  of  his  col- 
leagues. A  circle  of  great  or  small  diplomatists  is  al- 
ways a  little  world  apart ;  and  the  scenery  is  an  essen- 
tial in  its  performances.  During  dinner,  persons  and 
things  were  discussed  with  much  point  and  spirit." 

On  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  April,  Perthes  left 
Frankfurt  by  the  diligence.  In  one  of  his  letters  he 
says,  "  At  Schliichtern,  a  man  got  in  whom  the  con- 
ductor called  Mr.  Post-Secretary,  an  impudent  fellow, 
who  was  bent  upon  drawing  out  a  sulky  old  English- 
man ;  but  the  latter  pulled  his  cap  over  his  ears.  By 
this  time  it  was  night.     So  tlie  talkative  man  turned 


404  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

to  me.  *  Is  the  gentleman  asleep  a  travelling  trades- 
man ?  '  'I  do  not  know.' — '  You,  however,  are  a  min- 
ister ? '  '  No.'— 'A  professor  ? '  '  No.'—'  A  merchant?* 
*  No.' — 'A  government  official  ?  '  '  No.' — '  Then  you 
must  be  a  private  gentleman,  the  happiest  race  of  all, 
who  live  on  tlieir  income?'  '  Yes,'  said  I, '  if  they  have 
capital.'  A  little  later  my  friend  asked  suddenly, '  How 
morals  stood  out  of  Hesse?'  I  replied  by  asking  what 
morals  meant.  Upon  which  he  thought  me  a  fool,  and 
held  his  peace.  He  got  down  at  the  last  Hessian  sta- 
tion, and  then,  for  the  first  time,  it  occurred  to  me  that 
he  was  very  probably  one  of  the  Cassel  police,  a  so- 
called  Erfurt  spy.  This  honored  company  does  not 
seem  to  employ  very  clever  agents.  I  could  not  get 
the  conductor  to  speak  out ;  but  he  said,  '  The  man 
is  one  of  those  who  try  to  find  out  why  frogs  lose  their 
tails  when  they  grow  up.'"  After  an  uninterrupted 
journey  of  thirty-eight  hours,  Perthes  found  himself 
once  more  at  Gotha.  A  fortnight  later  he  had  to  go 
to  Leipzig.  "  I  do  not  like  going,"  wrote  he  ;  "  many 
things  combine  to  make  me  supine  and  sad,  and  anxious 
for  repose.  If  the  wear  and  tear  of  strong  feelings  could 
kill,  I  should  be  no  more  ;  but  the  human  heart  is  a 
hard  nut,  and  destiny,  sharp-toothed  as  it  is,  cracks  away 
at  it,  till  it  is  tired,  without  breaking  it." 


XXXV. 

tttht»'    ittttir   E^lfie.— 1822-25. 


HE  new  circumstances  of  a  new  abode,  and  the 
varied  exertions  consequent  upon  his  new 
calling,  as  well  as  his  numerous  journeys  and 
the  changes  they  involved,  had  an  exciting 
influence  upon  Perthes'  susceptible  nature, 
deprived  as  it  now  was  of  the  gentle  restraint 
exercised  by  Caroline's  affection  for  nearly 
twenty-five  years.  For  hours  and  days  he  would  feel 
restless  and  excited,  and  for  this  very  reason  dissatis- 
fied with  himself. 

"  It  is  no  easy  matter  for  me,"  he  writes,  "  to  conquer 
myself ;  the  effects  of  fifty  years  of  unrest  have  to  be 
subdued  by  a  naturally  restless  man.  My  life  hitherto 
has  passed  away  in  care  and  toil ;  now  I  have  the  op- 
portunity of  quiet  and  undisturbed  occupation,  and 
perhaps  external  repose  might  bring  me  the  peace  of 
God  if  I  were  only  at  rest  within." 

In  a  letter  written  at  this  time  to  Friedrich  Jacobi, 
he  says  : — "  The  battle  of  youth  is  over  and  gone,  and 
evening  is  at  hand.  Much  during  all  these  years  might 
have  been  done  otherwise  and  better,  and  discipline  is 
still  necessary.  The  passage  from  man's  prime  of  life 
and  strength  to  age  is  a  difficult  one,  and  the  gate  is 
wide  that  lead's  to  the  company  of  old  sinners.     Pas* 

(405) 


406  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

sion  blazes  up  anew,  love  of  pleasure  still  lurks  near, 
and  I  sometimes  suspect  that  youth  is  not  the  only  sea- 
son of  temptation." 

In  another  letter  we  find  him  sayiug :  "  Sometimes 
my  heart  can  rise  above  the  region  of  disquiet,  and  my 
mind  grow  calm  when  I  walk  alone  in  a  neighboring 
wood,  and  look  at  all  the  life  and  love  around  ;  but 
still,  after  much  profound  experience,  the  heart  is  not 
to  be  roused  by  nature  alone,  it  needs  a  previous  edu- 
cation to  fit  it  for  her  influence,  and,  perhaps,  in,  our 
later  years,  she  works  upon  us  less  through  what  she 
is  herself,  than  through  what  we  ourselves  are.  But 
God  can  help,  and  I  pray  and  implore  Him  to  help  me 
in  overcoming  the  unrest  I  suffer  from." 

The  consciousness  of  the  influence  of  the  outer 
world  upon  his  inner  life  was  specially  roused  in 
Perthes,  by  the  thought  of  the  difference  made  in  his 
whole  being  by  the  mature  age  he  had  now  reached. 
In  one  of  his  letters  lie  says  : — "  Half  a  century  now 
lies  behind  me,  and  old  age  is  not  far  distant.  So 
much  in  me  is  changed,  that  when  I  consider  myself 
with  the  eyes  of  the  natural  man,  I  could  almost  doubt 
my  indentity  with  the  self  of  five-and-twenty  years 
ago.  This  subjection  to  the  outer  world  were  horri- 
ble, if  liveliness  of  feeling,  play  of  thought,  and 
energy  of  action  constituted  the  essence  of  our  being  ; 
but  thank  God  these  are  in  relation  to  our  real  per- 
sonality but  as  the  waves  to  the  sea,  which  have  tlieir 
origin  in  the  wind  and  not  in  the  sea  itself.  The  sea 
is  the  sea  still  when  unstirred  by  the  wind,  and  I  am 
still  I,  wlien  the  special  stimulus,  be  it  of  youth,  pas- 
sion, or  society,  is  over.  It  is  not  I  tliat  am  grown 
old,  but   the   means   of  stimulating   me.     Time  may 


I 


PERTHES^  INNER   LIFE.  407 

blunt  the  nerves  and  stiffen  the  limbs,  but  it  has  no 
power  over  love  which  is  the  life  of  men,  the  core  of 
their  personality.  Despite  my  half  century  I  feel  no 
diminution  of  love,  nay,  I  am  certain  that  viewed  as  a 
faculty  of  my  nature  and  apart  from  its  particular  ob- 
jects, it  grows  both  in  scope  and  depth.  Love  is  the 
sum-total  of  life,  and  it  is  only  according  to  our  meas- 
ure of  it  that  we  are  accessible  to  truth.  But  I  feel  more 
and  more  how  mysteriously  love,  although  belonging 
to  eternity,  is  bound  like  ourselves  to  nature  and  the 
world.  1  find  it  manifested  in  my  own  heart  under  a 
threefold  character — divine,  human,  and  animal,  or,  in 
other  words,  the  love  of  the  soul,  the  heart,  and  the 
senses.  On  the  confines  of  these  separate  regions  lies 
the  wide  domain  of  fancy,  which  blends  the  human 
with  the  divine,  the  animal  with  the  human,  and 
often  enough  leads  us  to  mistake  the  one  for  the 
other.  We  aspire  after  the  divine  and  are  captured 
by  the  earthly.  The  love  of  the  senses  soon  passes 
away,  and  because  that  of  the  heart — human  love — is 
also  of  the  earth  earthy,  time  can  soften  even  the  most 
agonizing  loss  of  the  object  of  that  love.  Man  has 
part  in  the  eternal  only  in  so  far  as  he  cherishes  in 
himself  the  divine  spirit-love.  The  history  of  a  human 
being  resolves  itself  into  the  history  of  his  affections, 
and  at  the  close  of  his  life  his  only  question  should  be, 
How  sincerely  and  strongly  have  I  loved  God,  my  neigh- 
bor and  myself,  with  that  spirit-love  which  is  divine?" 
In  order  to  revive  within  his  own  heart  the  history 
of  the  past,  Perthes  had  begged  his  friends,  far  and 
near,  to  send  him  back  all  the  letters  his  wife  had  ever 
written  to  them.  To  these  he  added  those  addressed 
to  himself  and  to  the  elder  children,  and  thus  repeated 


408  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

as  it  were  in  uninterrupted  succession  the  years  spent 
with  Caroline. 

"  A  past  life  of  five-and-twenty  years  lies  before 
me,"  wrote  he  to  his  sister-in-law  Anna  Jacobi  ;  "  this 
little  bundle  of  paper  contains  an  infinity  of  love  and 
thouglit,  truth  and  conflict,  and  evokes  from  their 
graves  many  a  forgotten  fact  and  feeling.  Yes,  life  is. 
a  dream,  but  a  very  serious  one,  and  our  dreams  are 
solemn  truths  veiled  in  airy  fictions." 

In  the  midst  of  all  his  excitements  and  disturbances 
Perthes  deeply  yearned  for  repose,  but  this  yearning 
made  him  feel  himself  very  lonely  in  Gotha. 

"  I  find  no  one  here,"  he  writes,  "  with  whom  to  share 
my  inner  life:  in  this  respect  it  is  even  more  dead  than  at 
Hamburgh.  People  are  taken  up  with  the  visible,  and 
have  only  a  few  trite  commonplaces  to  bestow  upon 
the  invisible.  If  I  were  to  speak  of  what  most  deeply 
moves  me,  no  one  would  understand  me.  The  more  at 
rest  and  at  home  I  become  in  my  new  position,  the 
more  painfully,  in  spite  of  all  tlie  amusing  and  attrac- 
tive conversation,  do  I  feel  this  want  of  sympathy." 

Another  time  he  writes  : — "  I  w^ould  not  willingly 
be  unjust,  but  I  cannot  be  blind.  I  know  in  how  many 
respects  I  ought  myself  to  be  different,  and  may  say 
before  God  and  my  friends,  that  my  heart  is  humbled  ; 
but  here  I  find  that  I  must  either  be  silent,  or  else  lot 
myself  down, — I  cannot  express  ray  meaning  other- 
wise— altliough  I  would  so  gladly  be  improved  and  in- 
structed by  men  who  stand  above  me.  The  elder 
among  them  have  lived  in  an  exclusively  literary  or 
scientific  circle  belonging  to  the  past.  The  experience 
of  the  younger  is  too  limited,  not  reaching  to  the  War 
of  Independence,  which  gave  a  new  direction  to  the 


Perthes'  inner  life.  409 

whole  of  our  social  life.  They  are  ignorant,  and 
choose  to  remain  so,  of  a  number  of  important  facts, 
believing  in  their  youthful  self-confidence  that  they 
stand  independently  of  the  intellectual  life  of  our  past 
days.  As  the  elders  live  but  in  the  past,  so  do  these 
but  in  the  present,  and  the  majority  of  the  educated 
give  themselves  up  to  indolence  and  commonplace  en- 
joyment. This  dead  state  of  things  is  in  great  part 
accounted  for  by  the  insignificance  of  their  political 
condition." 

In  another  letter  we  find  Perthes  saying : — "  To  throw 
one's  self  in  one's  later  years  amidst  strange  scenes  and 
people  as  I  have  done,  makes  one  fully  alive  to  this 
world's  transitoriness.  This  year  has  brought  me 
nothing  unexpected  ;  I  knew  from  the  first  how  it 
would  be,  but  still  many  a  tie  of  youth  and  early  man- 
hood has  been  snapped  asunder,  which  would  not  have 
been  weakened  had  I  remained  in  Hamburgh.  Here 
no  one  knows  the  circumstances  of  my  former  life,  and 
hence  no  one  can  understand  the  point  of  view  to 
which  experience  has  brought  me  :  and  I  need  an  ap- 
prenticeship to  learn  to  bear  this." 

Perthes'  firm  Christian  convictions  had  become  uni- 
versally known  by  his  public  controversy  with  Yoss,* 
and  he  was  not  the  man  to  seek  to  hold  back  what  he 
believed  true.  His  religious  opinions  and  himself 
were  accordingly  looked  upon  as  a  phenomenon,  and 
many  were  at  a  loss  how  to  reconcile  his  strong  impet- 
uous character,  his  constant  activity,  and  wide  circle 
of  interests,  with  the  quiet  pietisyn  expected  from  every 

^  Perthes  had,  somethne  before  leaving  Hamburgh,  sued  Vosa  for 
libelling  the  memory  of  his  father-in-law,  Claudius,  by  bis  criticisms  on 
the  opinions  of  the  latter. 

18 


410  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Christian.  The  curiosity  excited  by  this  seeming: 
contradiction  led  to  much  conversation  and  much  con- 
troversy. Perthes'  life  had  been  less  pervaded  by 
doctrinal  speculation  than  by  practical  certainty,  and 
this  certainty  he  had  acquired  from  his  own  wants,  his 
own  experience,  from  the  testimony  of  good  and  great 
men,  and,  above  all,  from  the  Bible.  In  his  youth  he 
had  never  had  any  systematic  religious  instruction,  and 
the  business  of  after  years  had  prevented  his  supplying 
the  want.  But  in '  Gotha  he  was  confronted  by  men 
of  all  kinds,  who  often  pressed  him  hard  by  their  his- 
torical knowledge,  their  philosophical  aphorisms,  their 
scientifically  and  logically  trained  intellects.  He  could 
not  appeal  to  a  sense  of  need  or  to  the  inward  experi- 
ence, for  these  men  had  never  known  them,  and  if  he 
quoted  Claudius  and  Hamann,  Spener,  Franke,  Tauler, 
Thomas-a-Kempis,  &c.,  he  found  that  no  one  knew 
anything  about  them,  or  else  he  was  called  an  enthusi- 
ast, and  met  with  sayings  of  Kant  and  Fichte,  Krug, 
Fries.  Scripture  proofs  availed  him  nothing,  for  either 
they  were  not  recognized,  or  they  were  explained  in 
the  sense  of  Paulus  or  Bretschneider.  Perthes,  sure 
of  the  truth  of  his  cause,  but  not  always  able  to  re- 
fute the  attacks  made  upon  it,  was  often  irritated  and 
impatient,  and  his  impetuous  character  led  him  to  make 
use  of  many  bitter  and  unguarded  expressions  against 
his  opponents,  whence  arose  many  an  unpleasant  con- 
sequence. Perthes  himself  felt  that  this  was  doing  no 
good  to  others  nor  to  himself  either.  i 

"  I  am  not  so  skilful  a  controversialist  as  others,"  he 
once  wrote  ;  "  I  cannot  always  find  the  happy  medium 
between  the  too  little  and  the  too  much,  and  my  oppo- 
nents are  very  skilful  in  avoiding  the  main  points  of 


411 


the  argument,  and  directing  their  attacks  against  the 
weak  sides  of  non-essentials.  On  both  parts  springs  up 
a  hard  feeling,  which  should  least  of  all  find  place  in 
holy  things.  Theological  strife  brings,  if  not  gall,  at 
least  wormwood,  into  religious  life." 

One  of  his  friends  writes  to  him  in  reply  : — "  My  case 
is  the  same  as  yours  ;  the  older  and  the  more  experi- 
enced I  grow,  and  the  deeper  through  God's  grace  my 
insight  into  Christianity  becomes,  the  more  convinced  I 
am  that  demonstration  and  disputation  do  no  good.  So 
long  as  a  man  does  not  feel  that  he  is  a  poor  sinner, 
and  deficient  in  all  that  God  requires  of  him,  he  will 
not  be  reconciled  to  Him  ;  and  in  order  that  we  may 
convince  him,  it  is  in  our  own  selves,  our  personal 
character  and  conduct,  that  we  have  to  build  up  a 
temple  of  the  Lord,  so  that  the  enemy  may  see  what 
he  will  not  else  believe  in." 

Perthes  often  resolved  to  avoid  religious  discussion 
altogether.  ''  My  knowledge,"  writes  he,  "is  more  im- 
perfect than  should  be  possessed  by  one  who  speaks  on 
such  subjects,  my  speech  is  but  stammering,  and  that 
every  one  is  welcome  to  see  and  know,  but  I  will  not 
be  the  means  of  injuring  the  cause.  There  are  good 
estimable  men  to  whom,  owing  to  the  circumstances 
of  their  lives,  their  parents,  their  education,  their  age, 
the  study  of  Christian  evidence  has  been  a  sealed 
book.  Now,  if  such  hear  me,  they  only  perceive  my 
weakness  in  argument,  and  my  impetuosity,  and  the 
holy  cause  bears  the  blame  that  should  attach  to  the 
unholy  man.  I  will  not  be  guilty  of  this  any  longer, 
I  will  hold  my  peace." 

Tliis  was  a  wise  resolve,  but  to  carry  it  out  was  very 
difficult  to  Perthes.     It  was  only  in  his  last  years  that 


412  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

he  had  attained  such  self-control  as  to  be  silent  when 
speaking  was  useless,  or  to  speak  with  mildness  and 
moderation. 

But  these  theological  conflicts  awoke  in  him  a  desire 
for  a  knowledge  of  systematic  Christianit\',  and  led  to 
his  diligent  study  of  the  dogmatical  and  historical 
works  of  Protestant  and  Catholic  theologians.  He 
wrote  essays  by  way  of  defining  his  own  views,  and 
sought  through  a  correspondence  with  his  friends  in 
North  Germany,  with  Poel,  Neander,  Nicolovius,  and 
even  with  the  Catholics,  Friedrich  Schlegel,  and  the 
Countess  Sophie  Stolberg,  to  attain  to  a  deeper  under- 
standing of  special  questions.  For  many  years  he  had 
been  well  acquainted  with  the  Scriptures,  but  princi- 
pally with  particular  passages  and  chapters.  While 
in  Hamburgh  he  had  never  had  time  for  the  systematic 
study  of  them,  to  which  he  now  applied  himself,  and 
which  he  continued  up  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He, 
too,  had  his  difficulties  and  hindrances  of  various  kinds, 
as  all  have  had  before  and  will  after  him,  though  to 
each  probably  these  will  be  of  a  different  nature. 

In  one  of  his  letters  he  says,  "  I  find  that  the  benefit 
I  receive  from  Scripture,  in  great  measure  depends  upon 
myself.  How  often  on  turning  to  it  to  clear  up  some 
historical  sequence,  or  some  obscure  doctrine,  to  find 
material  for  imagination  or  ground  for  hypothesis,  I 
only  get  at  the  shell  instead  of  the  kernel :  or,  again, 
if  in  high-wrought  times  a  clearer  insight  be  afforded, 
how  prone  we  are  to  seek  to  improve  and  define  it  by 
our  own  strength,  and  so  to  bring  human  fictions  in- 
stead of  Divine  truth  to  light.  The  mysteries  of  Holy 
Scripture  are  only  revealed  to  us  when  we  are  seeking 
for  nothing  else  but  for  the  way  of  reconciliation  with 


413 

God,  and  for  help  in  our  battle  with  selfishness  and 
sin." 

Perthes  having  written  very  fully  to  a  friend  about 
St.  Paul's  Epistles,  received  the  following  reply  : — 
"You  know  that  to  me  Judaism  and  Christianity,  Old 
and  New  Testament,  do  not  appear  as  tliey  do  to  you, 
to  constitute  one  great  wliole.  What  T  most  admire 
in  Paul's  Epistles  is,  the  triumph  of  Christianity  over 
Judaism,  and  therein  I  acknowledge  rather  the  expres- 
sion of  Divine  inspiration  than  the  result  of  human 
perception."  "Your  opinions  approach  very  nearly," 
replied  Perthes,  "  to  the  now  almost  universally  ^ prev- 
alent notions  respecting  Scripture.  The  earlier  theo- 
logians have,  perhaps,  too  little  remembered  that  God 
has  not  spoken  immediately,  but  through  John,  Peter, 
and  Paul,  in  the  Bible.  At  the  present  time,  however, 
we  are  certainly  in  danger  of  overlooking  the  unity  of 
the  Scripture,  while  dwelling  on  the  individual  writ- 
ings of  Paul,  John,  or  Peter.  In  short,  the  trees  pre- 
vent our  seeing  the  forest,  and  we  forget  that  it  is  not 
with  a  collection  of  separate  writings  that  we  have  to 
do,  but  with  the  Bible  as  a  whole,  as  being  the  word 
which,  during  tlie  course  of  the  world's  history,  God 
wrote  down  for  man's  salvation,  and  which  contains 
nothing  more  indeed,  but  still  nothing  less  than  is 
necessary  to  reveal  the  '  mystery  of  godliness.'  It  is 
not  so  much  from  the  individuality  of  the  writers  of 
the  Epistles  and  Gospels,  that  we  are  to  understand 
their  writings,  as  from  the  relation  of  these  to  the 
whole." 

It  was  not  only  with  inward  but  with  outward  dif- 
ficulties that  Perthes  had  to  struggle.  His  ignorance 
of  the  original  was  a  hindrance  to  him,  and  the  whole 


414  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

generation  to  which  he  belonged  had  been  deficient  in 
religious  instruction  and  early  familiarity  with  the 
Scriptures.  Perthes  writes  to  a  friend  : — "The  Bible 
is  certainly  one  and  the  same  for  all  ;  but  the  best 
method  of  studying  it  varies  with  the  individual,  and 
without  a  guide,  few  are  able  to  discover  it.  The  peas- 
ant, the  mechanic,  feels  no  want,  because  unable  to 
understand  many  a  historical  and  circumstantial  detail ; 
without  stumbling  at  this,  he  quietly  passes  them  over  ; 
but  behind  his  plow,  or  at  his  daily  toil,  he  has  much 
unbroken  time  for  meditation  and  introspection,  and  it 
is  with  reference  to  this  point  of  view  that  he  must  be 
directed  to  the  Bible.  The  man  of  business  has  dif- 
ferent requirements  ;  his  hours  are  broken  up  into 
fragments,  and  he  must  devote  his  few  free  moments 
to  the  great  essentials  the  Scripture  reveals,  without 
having  them  perplexed  by  what  is  comparatively  im- 
material. As  for  many  of  the  educated  in  Germany, 
who  have  plenty  of  leisure,  and  who,  without  being 
learned  theologians,  yet  feel  a  spirit  of  inquiry  within 
them,  they  ought  not  to  be  perplexed  by  external  dif- 
ficulties, which  only  learned  theologians  can  remove, 
but  should  have  the  result  of  profound  science  and 
learning  afforded  them  in  a  concise  form,  so  that,  sup- 
ported and  enlightened  by  it,  they  might  progress  in 
spiritual  understanding.  If  the  numerous  ministers 
who  spend,  and  often  spend  in  vain,  their  energies  in 
producing  well-conceived  and  well-expressed  sermons, 
would  strive  to  give  to  seekers  after  truth  the  special 
guidance  their  different  positions  and  wants  requir(^, 
there  would  be  a  great  improvement  amongst  us." 

A  friend  wrote: — "However  lofty  Tauler's  views 
may  be,  they  are  not  practical ;  his  system  does  not 


PERTHES'   INNER   LIFE.  415 

seek  to  build  up,  but  to  destroy,  and  must  therefore  be 
faulty." 

Perthes  replied  as  follows  :  "  We  are  not  so  much 
opposed  as  your  letter  would  imply.  The  truth  of  the 
saying,  '  All  is  vanity,'  does  indeed  come  home  to  the 
man  of  ripe  years,  when  he  reflects  upon  all  that  in 
life's  vicissitudes  has  charmed  and  enchained  his  heart 
and  mind  ;  but  lie  who,  because  all  things  are  vain, 
should  cease  to  take  a  part  in  them,  would  merely  veg- 
etate, and  no  longer  live.  An  entirely  contemplative 
life  is  an  impossibility,  the  instinct  of  activity  is  innate  ; 
at  all  events  hard  work  is  to  me  a  habit  with  which  I 
cannot  dispense. 

"  He  who  should  attempt  nothing  on  earth  but  to 
meditate  on  God,  and  feel  His  presence,  would  soon 
cease  to  do  either.  The  Christian  is  set  in'  the  midst 
of  the  world,  and,  let  him  stand  where  he  may,  will 
always  be  called  on  to  fulfil  various  external  duties  : 
in  tliese  he  is  to  act  as  skilfully,  expeditiously,  and  en- 
ergetically as  his  faculties  will  allow,  and  he  may  not 
extinguish  his  earthly  nature  or  his  senses,  for  he  needs 
them  all  in  order  to  be  God's  faithful  servant  and 
steward. 

"  If  therefore  I  have  gladly  and  actively  used  my 
physical  energies,  that  is  no  contradiction  to  my  Chris- 
tianity ;  but  if  I  have  failed  to  sanctify  and  employ 
them  as  in  God's  sight,  then  I  have  been  untrue  to  my 
convictions.  No  one  knows  better  than  I  how  little 
progress  one  makes.  When  I  remember,  that,  six-and- 
twenty  years  ago,  I  expressed  to  Caroline  my  earnest 
desire  to  approach  God,  and  purify  my  life,  and  then 
consider  what  I  am  at  this  day  ;  alas,  how  little  im- 
provement I  find  !    The  conflict  is  different,  now  less 


416  CAROLINE   PERTHES.    . 

violent  indeed,  but  not  easier  ;  and  I  often  feel  as 
though  ray  whole  past,  from  earliest  childhood,  came 
crowding  into  the  present. 

''  Brought  up  by  worthy,  well-intentioned  relatives, 
I  yet  heard  hardly  any  thing  about  Christianity.  I  did, 
indeed,  learn  Luther's  Catecliism  by  heart,  but  its  mean- 
ing was  never  explained  to  me  ;  and  as  to  my  confir- 
mation, it  might  well  be  called  blasphemous.  I  owe 
some  facts  and  good  impressions  to  Hubner's  Biblical 
History  ;  Lavater's  Diary,  too,  fell  into  my  hands,  and 
left  some  religious  impressions  behind. 

"  When  I  was  fifteen  years  old,  I  went  to  Leipzig  and 
was  there  taught  a  rude  lesson.  While  licentious  books 
inflamed  my  imagination,  I  started  in  the  track  of 
Game,  Reinhard,  and  Kisewetter,  and  was  only  saved 
from  ruin  by  my  deep  and  sincere  love  for  a  modest 
girl. 

"  When  I  was  twenty  years  old,  and  full  of  internal 
struggles,  I  went  to  Hamburgh,  where  I  was  surrounded 
by  a  new  world,  filled  with  all  kinds  of  interests.  The 
writings  of  Schiller  and  Jacobi  attracted  me  ;  I  became 
acquainted  with  Besser,  Runge,  Hiilsenbeck,  and  Speck- 
ter,  and  my  education,  properly  speaking,  then  began, 

"  I  became  acquainted,  too,  with  Caroline,  and  through 
her,  with  the  blessing  of  my  life.  The  first  six  years 
of  our  married  life  were  full  of  internal  and  external 
difficulties,  and  then  the  great  public  events  of  the  time 
intruded  into  our  domestic  circle.  Tlie  spiritual  strug- 
gle went  on.  Pride  and  arrogance  never  belonged  to 
my  character,  and  good  sense  saved  me  from  petty 
vanity  ;  but  I  was  always  ambitious.  As  for  the  im- 
petuosity of  my  nature,  it  has  often  helped  me  forward, 
and  the  excess  of  it  is  punished  and  restrained  by  the 


417 


conditions  of  life.  My  besetting  sin  has  always  been 
sensuality.  I  have  fought  a  hard  battle  with  it,  and 
only  triumphed,  or  rather  found  the  way  to  triumph, 
by  becoming  a  Christian  ;  and  it  was  not  Caroline, 
nor  Claudius,  nor  any  one  else  that  made  me  a  Chris- 
tian, but  the  deep  yearning  for  help  which  I  felt  to  be 
necessary  in  battling  with  ray  sensual  nature. 

"  Until  manhood,  the  moral  law  performed  for  me  the 
functions  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  convincing  me  of 
sin,  and  of  my  powerlessness  to  conquer  it,  and  so 
breaking  my  presumptuous  spirit.  As  soon  as  I  had 
relinquished  my  self-reliance,  the  gospel  renewed  the 
humbled  man,  comforted  him  for  the  sins  of  the  past, 
and  promised  and  afforded  him  help  in  his  future  strug- 
gle. I  am  not  conscious  of  ever  having  experienced 
any  special  act  of  grace,  though  I  have  yearned  after 
such  for  years,  and  I  know  very  well  where  and  what 
the  hindrance  in  myself  is,  which  stands  between  this 
desire  and  its  accomplishment.  That  many  others 
possess  what  I  still  only  long  for,  I  firmly  believe, 
though  they  may  perhaps  have  begun  to  work  in  the 
vineyard  some  hours  after  me  :  but  that  God  has 
worked  in  me,  and  is  still  working  in  many  ways,  I 
feel.  I  have  found  the  sure,  the  only  way  to  spiritual 
peace,  but  the  end  of  that  way  cannot  be  reached  on 
earth  ;  I  am  neither  dead  to  the  world,  nor  made  sin- 
less ;  and,  indeed,  I  believe  that  the  effect  of  regenera- 
tion is  not  to  transfigure  a  man  while  here  below,  but  to 
make  him  childlike  and  humble.  As  rej^ards  Tauler, 
it  is  true  that  lie  aims  at  a  wholly  interior  life,  a  with- 
drawal from  the  world,  which  is  possible  only  for  those 
who  have  no  earthly  calling  or  earthly  ties  ;  but  you 
must  not  forget,  that  Tauler  is  here  addressing  himself 
18* 


418  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

especially  to  unmarried  ecclesiastics ;  for  who  else 
could  have  understood  or  even  read  his  works  at  that 
time  ?  His  sermons  to  the  people,  on  the  contrar}^  are 
full  of  practical  wisdom,  and  contain  many  cautions 
against  the  danger  of  undervaluing  one's  lawful  calling 
in  favor  of  the  inner  Christian  life  ;  but  even  in  these 
respects,  the  infinite  difference  comes  out  clearly  be- 
tween human  writings,  be  they  even  as  profound  and 
lofty  as  Tauler's  Medulla  AnimcE,  and  the  divine  sub- 
limity, simplicity,  and  moderation  of  Holy  Scripture." 
About  this  time  Perthes  spoke  out  with  equal  dis- 
tinctness to  his  sou  Matthias.  "  Neither  Tauler,  nor 
Thomas-^-Kempis,"  wrote  he,  "  desires  such  a  separa- 
tion from  the  world  as  would  interfere  with  the  per- 
formance of  even  one  of  our  duties  towards  our  neigh- 
bor. I  do  not  know  what  Terstegen  may  advocate 
for  I  am  but  little  acquainted  with  his  writings.  To 
withdraw  one's  self  entirely  from  contact  with  the  world 
is  impossible  under  the  conditions  of  time  and  space  ; 
and  if  a  man  does  come  into  contact  with  it,  though 
at  only  one  point,  that  contact  gives  the  devil  a  hold 
over  him.  However,  if  the  attempt  to  lead  an  exclu- 
sively inner  life  be  hopeless,  we  have  the  comfort  of 
knowing  that  such  a  life  is  not  ordained  of  God,  but 
devised  by  man's  own  deluded  will.  We  may,  indeed^ 
with  the  loftiest  sentiments,  and  the  sublimest  ideas, 
imagine  it,  but  we  are  deceived  by  Satan.  Behind  the 
lofty  sentiment  lurks  sloth,  which  hopes  for  the  crown 
without  the  conflict ;  and  behind  the  sublime  idea  lurks 
pride,  which,  in  its  independence  of  the  world,  would 
fain  assume  divinity.  We  are  to  suffer  and  strive,  but 
to  suffer  and  strive  in  love  ;  if  this  love  has  degener- 
ated towards  our  neighbor  into  coldness,  towards  our- 


PERTHES'    INNER   LIFE.  419 

selves  into  sensuality,  or  towards  God  into  presump- 
tion, we  ought  to  feel  that  we  need  atonement  through 
Jesus  Christ.  We  can  do  nothing  but  fight  to  the  end. 
If  we  have  conquered  the  grosser  and  ruder  forms  of 
temptation,  we  have  hourly  to  guard  against  more 
subtle  and  gentle  attacks.  This  world  is  not  made  for 
the  rest  after  victory  :  fight  on,  love,  and  trust  God's 
grace ! '' 

In  another  letter  Perthes  says  : — "  You  say  that  to 
live  with  God  can  only  mean  to  have  intercourse  with 
Him,  and  that  he  who  has  such  intercourse  must  needs 
be  conscious  of  it.  Now,  the  latter  proposition  is  true, 
but  not  the  former,  for  intercourse  supposes  strangers 
who  seek  to  become  better  acquainted  :  intercourse  is, 
indeed,  but  a  repetition  of  attempts  to  abolish  an  ex- 
isting separation,  but  it  does  not  abolish  the  com- 
munion of  those  whose  hearts  are  already  one. 
Friends  and  acquaintance  have  intercourse  with  one 
another,  but  who  would  use  that  word  to  express  the 
relation  between  mother  and  child  ?  He  who  has  not 
only  intercourse  with  God,  but  who,  according  to  Tau- 
ler,  allows  the  ego  within  him  to  be  dumb,  or,  accord- 
ing to  Thomas- ^-Kempis,  '  abandons  himself,  and  is  fillr 
ed  with  the  presence  of  God,'  or  again  with  Taulej^, 
exclaims — '  God  within,  God  without,  God  round 
about  me  ;' — he,  I  say,  will  neither  be  troubled  by  the 
past  with  all  its  sins,  nor  by  the  future  with  all  its 
punishments  ;  for  him,  indeed,  there  is  no  past  or  fur 
ture, — all  is  present :  or  rather  he  lives  beyond  the 
conditions  of  time  altogether,  for  he  already  has  eter- 
nal life  ;  and  Consciousness  in  eternity  means  some^ 
thing  very  different  from  what  we  call  consciousness 
here  oi^  earth." 


420  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

"  As  for  your  being  without  consciousness/'  replies  a 
friend  to  Perthes,  "  I  would,  first  of  all,  inquire  the 
exact  sense  of  the  phrase,  for  I  can  attach  no  meaning 
to  the  words."  Perthes  says  in  answer  : — "I  cannot, 
indeed,  fully  and  clearly  express  my  meaning,  but  I 
can  refute  the  charge  of  having  none.  I  can  recollect, 
more  than  thirty  years  ago,  lamenting  to  Range,  with 
tears  in  my  eyes,  that  I  could  not  guard  against  the 
consciousness  of  my  best  feelings  ;  does  not  the  ex- 
perience of  others  in  this  matter  respond  to  mine? 
When  an  able  man  accomplishes  a  noble  enterprise 
with  self-sacrifice,  that  is  his  Being :  but  when  he  is 
conscious  of  the  goodness  and  nobility  of  what  he  has 
done,  and  self-complacent  because  of  it,  this  Conscious- 
ness destroys  the  excellence  of  his  Being,  and  '  verily 
they  have  their  reward.'  The  Being  was  noble,  the 
Consciousness  ignoble.  The  Bible  says,  '  When  thou 
givest  alms,  let  not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right 
doeth.'  Does  it  not  in  these  words  imply  Being  with- 
out Consciousness?" 

Perthes  writes  thus  to  Rist : — "  My  youth,  with  all 
its  passions,  my  efi'orts  to  get  on  in  the  world,  my 
labors  and  cares,  the  quarter  of  a  century  spent  with 
my  blessed  Caroline,  consist  of  months,  days,  hours, 
each  filled  by  its  own  life  and  love  ;  but  now  all  these 
infinite  complexities  resolve  themselves  for  me  only 
into  their  results,  and  are  all  fused  into  the  present 
moment :  the  past  has  left  in  me,  as  a  precipitate,  my 
consciousness  of  it.  I  am  still  able  to  call  forth  all 
these  moments,  and  to  make  them  pass  before  me  like 
the  pictures  of  a  magic  lantern,  otherwise  they  are  like 
dead  things  buried  within  me  :  my  consciousness  of 
the  past  perishes  with  me,  but,  nevertheless,  that  past 


!i21 


has  been,  and  will  continue  as  Being,  though  it  find  no 
place  in  any  man^s  Consciousness." 

However  warmly  Perthes  longed  for  internal  rest 
and  peace,  he  yet  well  knew  that  there  were  many  ob- 
stacles in  the  way  of  his  attaining  them.  Having 
written  on  tlie  subject  to  Rist,  he  received  this  answer : 
— •'  If  I  had  ever  misjudged  you,  the  sketch  of  your 
life,  which  you  have  now  given  me,  would  have  served 
to  rectify  my  impression.  But  it  is  just  as  I  always 
supposed.  From  youth  up  strong  passions  have  been 
your  special  enemies — your  better  nature  strove  against 
them — you  cherished  indeed  higher  aspirations  and 
resolves,  but  you  also  felt  your  own  powerlessness  to 
carry  them  out.  As  the  enemy  pressed  you  harder 
and  harder,  you  sought  to  strengthen  the  bulwarks  of 
your  religious  creed  ;  and  you  would,  no  doubt,  have 
become  a  member  of  that  Church  which,  on  system, 
comes  to  terms  with  the  world  of  sense  ;  had  it  not 
been  that  too  free  a  spirit  dwelt  Avithin  you,  and  that 
you  were  too  sincerely  converted  to  God  to  be  pervert- 
ed by  man." 

Perthes  writes  in  reply  : — "  You  call  me  a  naturally 
sensual  man,  and  you  are  right ;  I  always  was  so,  and 
still  am  ;  my  self-reliance,  worldly  wisdom,  and  pas- 
sionate temperament,  will  play  me  many  a  trick  yet ; 
the  multitude  of  things  that  run  in  my  head  are  con- 
stantly leading  me  astray  ;  the  weakness  of  the  egOy 
the  love  of  the  world,  and  the  light-heartedness  essen- 
tial to  the  fulfilment  of  an  earthly  calling,  are  ever 
making  me  to  forget  that  I  am  not  my  own  master  ; 
but,  let  sorrow  come,  and  internal  or  external  conflict, 
and  I  become  at  once  aware  that  the  hearty  desire  to 
give  myself  up  to  God  does  bear  good  fruits,  and  that 


422  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

love  is  more  and  more  chasing  away  hatred  and  cold- 
ness out  of  my  heart." 

In  another  letter  he  says  : — "  Do  not  laugh  if  I  tell 
you  that  my  dog  has  given  me  many  a  hint  upon  hu- 
man nature.  I  never  before  had  a  dog  constantly  with 
me,  and  I  now  ask  myself  daily  whether  the  poodle  be 
not  a  man,  and  men  poodles.  I  am  not  led  to  this 
thought  by  the  animal  propensities  which  we  have  in 
common,  such  as  eating,  drinking,  &c.,  but  by  those  of 
a  more  refined  character.  He,  too,  is  cheerful  and 
dejected,  excited  and  supine,  playful  and  morose, 
gentle  and  bold,  caressing  and  snappish,  patient  and 
refractory  ;  just  like  us  men  in  all  things,  even  in  his 
dreams !  This  likeness  is  not  to  me  at  all  discourag- 
ing :  on  the  contrary,  it  suggests  a  pleasing  hope,  that 
this  flesh  and  blood  which  plagues  and  fetters  us,  is 
not  the  real  man,  but  merely  the  earthly  clothing 
which  will  be  cast  off  when  he  no  longer  belongs  to 
earth,  provided  he  has  not  sinfully  chosen  to  identify 
himself  with  the  merely  material.  The  devil's  chief 
seat  is  not  in  matter,  but  in  the  mind,  where  he  fosters 
pride,  selfishness,  and  hatred,  and  by  their  means 
destroys  not  what  is  transitory,  but  what  is  eternal  in 
man." 

In  another  letter  he  says  : — "  If,  indeed,  as  you  af- 
firm, '  the  summa  summarum  is,  that  we  are  all  sin- 
ners, and  that  God  must  best  know  why  He  gave  us 
these  material  bodies  which  are  not  sinless,  and  cannot 
be  so,' — then,  truly,  we  don't  stand  in  need  of  mercy, 
for  God  alone  would  bear  the  blame,  and  the  door  is 
shut  in  the  face  of  all  inquirers.  But  were  this  so,  we 
might  well  wonder  at  the  sorrow  which  sin  always 
awakens  in  us,  and  by  wliich  we  are  prevented  from 


PERTHES'   INNER   LIFE.  423 

charging  it  upon  the  Almighty.  When  I  look  upon 
what  I  have  become,  what  I  have  conquered,  and  what 
I  have  gained,  I  may  sometimes  feel  confidence  in  my 
own  powers  ;  but  then  again,  I  know,  as  certainly  as 
anything  can  be  known,  that,  if  the  senses  had  been 
stimulated  by  keener  delights,  ambition  lured  on  by 
greater  prizes,  if  heavier  trials  and  stronger  tempta- 
tions had  encountered  me,  I  should  not  have  been  what 
I  am !  Who  is  there  that  must  not  bow  his  head  at 
the  question,  '  Does  thy  life  belong  to  God  or  to  the 
world  V  that  would  not  be  saddened  by  the  thought 
of  all  his  deeds  awaking  with  him  in  that  future  life? 
that  would  take  his  defilements  with  him  into  para- 
dise ?  tliat  would  not  be  willing  to  blot  out  his  past 
life,  or  at  least  the  consciousness  of  it,  even  in  this 
world,  and  how  much  more  in  the  next  ?  that  would 
not  like  to  drink  of  Lethe's  stream  ?  But  the  gospel 
hints  at  no  such  possibility  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  states 
tliat  we  shall  stand,  and  be  made  manifest  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  Christ.  Again  and  again  the  all-im- 
portant question  recurs  : — '  Can  and  will  God  forgive 
sin  V  He  who  does  not  understand  the  full  force  of 
this  question  does  not  know  himself,  and  happy  is  he 
whose  own  individual  experience  affords  him  the  an- 
swer to  it.  Human  philosophy  can  prompt  the  ques- 
tion, but  never  solve  it.  Philosophers  misapprehend 
reason  as  the  Jews  did  the  law  :  so  I  read  lately  in 
Hamann's  letters ;  for  they  know  not  that  reason  is 
given  us  only  to  make  us  acquainted  with  our  ignor- 
ance, just  as  the  law  was  given  to  make  us  acquaint- 
ed with  our  sins.  Truth  and  grace  alike  cannot  be 
excogitated  or  inherited,  they  must  be  historically  re- 
vealed." 


XXXYI. 


LTHOUGH  Perthes  had  rejoiced  with  all 
the  energy  of  paternal  affection  at  his  daugh- 
ter's happy  betrothal,  yet  her  departure  from 
his  home  cost  him  a  severe  struggle.  ''  From 
this  day  forth,''  he  writes,  "  my  child  is  mine 
no  more.  I  shall  have  to  see  her  removed 
further  away  day  by  day,  and  her  love,  not 
indeed  estranged  from  me,  but  yet  devoted  to  another. 
So  it  must  ever  be  ;  the  child  is  to  leave  father  and 
mother,  but  the  pain  of  it  is  great,  the  heart  bleeds  at 
the  necessity,  and  we  gain  deeper  insight  into  its 
depths,  and  into  the  pure  intensity  of  a  father's  love." 
On  the  day  after  the  wedding,  which  took  place  on 
the  1st  of  June,  1824,  Perthes  had  all  his  children  as- 
sembled round  him  ;  but,  as  one  by  one  departed, 
leaving  him  alone  with  the  three  youngest  only,  he  was 
almost  overwhelmed  with  sadness.  We  find  him  writ- 
ing : — "  They  were  indeed  heavy  hours  when  all  for- 
sook me.  First  Matthias  went  away  to  begin  a  new 
and  independent  life,  then  both  my  married  daugliters 
returned  to  their  long  established  homes,  at  last  Matil- 
da left  with  her  husband.  The  farewell  of  this  dear 
daughter,  who  clung  to  me  with  boundless  tenderness, 
pierced  my  heart,  and  I  found  myself  alone — alone  as 
(424) 


J 


CHANGES   IN   LIFE.  425 

for  thirty  years  I  had  never  been.  Henceforth  I  have 
no  family  circle  ;  the  house  that  Caroline  and  I  found- 
ed is  fast  going  to  pieces,  and  the  picture  of  myself  as 
the  last  remaining  one  haunts  me  like  a  spectre.  One 
after  another  the  children  depart,  in  three  or  four 
years  even  the  three  little  ones  will  have  left  me,  then 
I  shall  be  free  as  the  bird  of  the  air,  and  a  long  avenue 
of  solitary  years  may  yet  lie  before  me.  The  horrors 
of  a  forsaken  solitude  come  upon  me  and  force  many 
tears  from  my  eyes." 

Perthes  was  particularly  desirous  that  his  three 
younger  children  should  not,  after  their  sister^s  mar- 
riage, be  deprived  of  the  advantages  of  family  life. 
"  It  grieves  me,'*  said  he,  "  to  inflict  myself  and  the 
three  children  upon  the  young  pair,  but  it  cannot  be 
helped.  My  elder  daughters  remind  me,  it  is  true,  that 
the  limited  accommodation,  and  the  necessity  of  con- 
forming to  the  habits  of  others,  will  be  new  and  disa- 
greeable to  me.  But,  since  so  much  inward  sorrow 
has  been  overcome,  external  changes  can  surely  be  so 
too." 

Accordingly,  a  few  days  after  the  wedding,  Perthes 
removed  to  the  house  of  his  son-in-law,  Becker.  "  I 
am  now  sitting,"  he  writes  to  a  friend,  *'  in  my  daugh- 
ter's home  ;  the  small  house  suits  me,  and  I  enjoy  the 
extensive  view  on  every  side.  Nothing  can  be  happier 
than  my  relations  with  my  son-in-law,  and  my  daugh- 
ter's attention  is  boundless.  The  three  younger  chil- 
dren feel  at  home,  and  for  myself  I  have  but  few  re- 
quirements, having  never  been  an  uneasy  seeker  after 
comforts,  and  can  easily  conform  to  the  ways  of  others ; 
yet  I  will  confess  that  it  is  not  altogether  pleasant  to 
be  no  longer  lord  and  master  in  one's  own  household. 


i26  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

I  have  had  from  my  veiy  childhood  an  almost  morbid 
fear  of  becoming  a  burden  to  others,  and  disturbing 
their  way  of  life.  And  now  here  I  am  with  three 
children  in  this  young  couple's  house  !  No  one,  indeed, 
will  allow  us  to  be  called  an  incumbrance,  but  arc  we 
the  less  so  for  that  ?  This  thought  vexes  and  grieves 
me  already,  do  what  I  may  to  battle  with  it.  What, 
then,  will  it  be  in  future  ?  I  shudder  at  the  pros- 
pect of  old  age,  with  mind  and  body  getting  more  and 
more  enfeebled,  and  requiring  help  and  care  day  and 
night.  I  have  never  seen  an  old  and  feeble  man  who  did 
not,  if  alone  in  the  world,  feel  his  position  awkward 
and  painful.  Many  of  them  I  have  seen  fall  into  acts 
of  great  folly  ;  who  then  may  feel  secure  ?  I  declare 
that  the  best  provision  for  such  a  time  of  life  is  a 
French  valet  of  the  old  stamp,  such  as  we  used  to  see 
in  the  days  of  emigration  ;  a  man  who  could  alike 
cook  for  his  old  master,  and  feed,  wash,  dress,  and 
comb  him." 

The  truth  of  the  matter,  however,  was,  that  though 
Perthes  was  right  in  saying  that  he  had  few  require- 
ments, he  yet  had  requirements  which  the  best  of 
French  valets  could  never  have  met.  He  had  been  for 
many  years  accustomed  not  only  to  Caroline's  society, 
but  to  her  perfect  comprehension  at  a  glance  or  a 
word,  of  all  that  concerned  him,  whether  outward  or 
inward  ;  in  joy  and  sorrow,  in  small  and  great  things 
alike,  he  had  always  found  in  her  the  most  perfect 
sympathy.  This  mutual  life  was  lost  to  him  now,  and 
after  Caroline's  death,  in  his  more  serious  hours,  he 
was  never  for  a  moment  without  a  sense  of  loneliness." 

"  I  am  alone,'^  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Nicolovius, 
"  and  full  of  yearning  and  longing  ;  I  deeply  crave 


CUAiNGES   IN   LIFE.  427 

for  sympathy  to  cheer  the  desert  within  me  ;  but  no 
one  understands  me  now,  as  I  was  once  understood.  If 
I  speak  out  of.  my  heart,  the  answer  I  receive  teaches 
me  that  my  meaning  is  not  apprehended."  In  another 
letter  he  says, — "  It  is  wretched  enough  to  lead  an  un- 
married life,  but  still  worse  to  have  known  perfect 
sympathy  of  soul,  and  then  to  lose  it.  I  possess,  in  no 
common  degree,  my  children's  love,  but  this  cannot 
replace  the  love  of  which  I  have  been  bereft.  The  af- 
fections of  youth  have  different  objects  from  those  of 
riper  years,  being  fixed  either  upon  present  good,  or 
the  glancing  forms  of  the  future.  Parents  belong  to 
the  past,  and  the  past  is  pale  and  dim  for  the  young. 
Before  them  all  is  bright  sunlight ;  behind  them 
cold  moonshine.  So  it  ever  has  been  and  will  be,  and 
we  who  also  looked  forward  once,  must  needs  look 
backward  now." 

In  another  letter  he  says, — "  There  is  no  comfort  for 
the  sadness  I  feel — night  is  in  my  soul.  The  outward 
man,  indeed,  makes  a  show  of  enjoyment,  laughs,  and 
seems  cheerful,  but  there  is  a  waste  and  bitter  void 
within.  Yet  whither  am  I  drifting  ?  When  one  sees 
in  a  new  wedlock  a  new  human  love  arising,  which  ig- 
nores time  and  decay,  and  then  feels  the  phantom- 
world  in  one's  own  heart,  truly  the  bones  rattle,  and 
the  blood  runs  cold." 

It  was  with  this  feeling  of  loneliness,  that  Perthes, 
at  the  age  of  fifty-one,  became  a  member  of  his  third 
daugliter's  household.  In  tlie  very  next  house  to  him 
lived  his  son-in-law's  sister,  Charlotte  Becker.  She 
had  been  married  to  Heinrich  Hornbostel,  a  distin- 
guished merchant  of  Vienna,  and  had,  after  his  death, 
returned  with  four  children  to  her  mother's  house.    Of 


^8  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

these  children,  the  two  eldest  were  hopeless  invalids  ; 
but,  though  they  had  been  often  at  the  point  of  death, 
it  was  impossible  to  foresee  whether  their  sufferings 
would  extend  over  a  few  weeks,  or  a  few  years.  Per- 
thes had,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Gotha,  become  ac- 
quainted with  this  mucli-tried  mother,  who  was  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  his  married  daughters  ;  he  had  heard 
of  her  sorrows  with  sympathy,  and  admired  the  ener- 
gy and  cheerfulness  with  which  she  bore  them.  Per- 
thes wrote  some  time  after  this  :  ''  I  was  only  slightly 
acquainted  with  Charlotte,  it  is  true,  but  I  was  always 
struck  with  her  clear  intellect  and  quick  wit,  the  ani- 
mation of  her  whole  nature  ;  the  precision  and  skill, 
sliown  in  all  she  did,  attracted  me,  and  her  discrimina- 
tion of  character,  and  her  sensible  estimate  of  things 
in  general,  perfectly  astonished  me.  However,  we  had 
not  drawn  nearer,  and  life's  deeper  chords  had  not 
been  touched.'' 

Charlotte  was  thirty  years  old  when  Perthes  joined 
his  daughter,  and  thus  came  into  daily  contact  with 
Charlotte  and  her  children.  In  a  later  letter  he  says, — 
"  Her  real  worth  could  not  be  concealed  from  me, — I 
saw  the  steadfast  fidelity  and  enduring  love  she  dis- 
played in  nursing  her  sick  children,  and  her  good 
sense  in  educating  the  healthy  ones.  I  saw  how,  in 
spite  of  her  liveliness  and  social  gifts,  she  gave  up  any 
pleasure  as  soon  as  the  children  wanted  her.  Sorrow, 
anxiety,  and  loss  of  rest  by  their  bedsides  had  left 
traces  on  her  features,  but  her  clear,  intellectual  glance 
was  undisturbed  by  them  all.  I  could,  indeed,  gather 
from  a  few  strong  expressions,  how  heavy  her  trials 
were,  but  generally  speaking,  I  found  her  composed, 
resigned,  and  cheerful.     I  resolved  to  be  as  useful  a 


CHANGES   IN   LIFE.  429 

friend  as  I  could,  both  to  the  mother  and  children  :  she 
kindly  responded  to  my  cordiality,  and  I  soon  pos- 
sessed her  confidence,  though  the  thought  of  standing 
in  a  nearer  relation  to  her  never  occurred  to  me." 

Towards  the  end  of  July,  1824,  Rebecca  Claudius, 
Perthes'  mother-in-law,  came  with  her  daughter  Au- 
gusta, to  pay  a  month's  visit  to  G-otha.  She  was  much 
concerned  about  Perthes'  situation,  and  one  day,  while 
they  were  walking  in  the  orangery,  expressed  herself 
openly  to  him.  She  told  him  that  he  was  no  more  a 
master  in  his  own  house,  that  soon  his  younger  children 
would  be  leaving  him,  and  that  his  strong  health  gave 
promise  of  a  long  life  yet  to  come — that  for  him  soli- 
tude was  not  good,  that  he  could  not  bear  it,  and  con- 
sequently, that  he  ought  not  to  put  off  choosing  a  com- 
panion for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  At  these  words 
the  thought  of  Charlotte  shot  like  lightning  through 
his  soul  :  he  made  no  reply,  but  he  had  a  hard  battle 
to  fight  with  himself  from  that  time  forth. 

In  September  he  communicated  to  his  mother-in-law 
the  pros  and  cons  which  agitated  him  so  much,  but 
without  giving  her  to  understand  that  it  was  no  longer 
the  subject  of  marriage  in  general,  but  of  one  marriage 
in  particular,  which  now  disquieted  him.  After  stating 
the  outward  and  inward  circumstances  which  made  a 
second  marriage  advisable  in  his  case,  he  goes  on  to 
say,  "  I  am  quite  certain  that  Caroline  foresaw,  from 
her  knowledge  of  my  character  and  temperament,  a 
second  marriage  for  me,  and  I  am  equally  certain  that 
no  new  union  could  ever  disturb  my  spirit's  abiding 
union  with  her.  My  inner  life  is  filled  with  her  mem- 
ory, and  will  be  so  till  my  latest  day,  but  I  must  own 
that  this  is  possible  only  while  I  incorporate  in  thought 


430  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

her  happy  soul,  and  think  of  her  as  a  human  being, 
still  sharing  my  eartlily  existence,  still  taking  interest 
in  all  I  do  ;  and  I  cannot  disguise  from  myself,  while 
viewing  her  under  this  aspect,  that  my  dear  Caroline 
would  prefer  my  living  on  alone,  satisfied  with  her 
memory.  Again,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  Holy 
Scripture,  althougli  permitting  a  second  marriage,  does 
so  on  account  of  the  hardness  of  our  hearts.  The  civil 
law  contains  no  prohibition  either,  and  yet  there  has 
always  existed  a  social  prejudice  against  such  a  mar- 
riage, and  youth,  whose  ideal  is  always  fresh  and  fair, 
and  women  who  are  always  young  in  soul,  look  with 
secret  disgust  upon  it.  I  know,  too,  that  my  remain- 
ing alone  would  be,  not  only  with  reference  to  others 
but  in  itself,  the  worthier  course  ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  I  know  it  would  be  so  in  reality  only  if  this 
worthiness  were  not  assumed  for  the  purpose  of  ap- 
pearing in  a  false  light  to  myself,  to  other  men,  and 
perhaps  even  before  God,  or  for  the  purpose  of  cloak- 
ing selfishness  under  the  guise  of  fidelity  to  the  de- 
parted. To  us,  in  our  life  here  below,  the  love  of  the 
creature  is  given  to  educate  us  for  the  love  of  God. 
Can  I  dispense  with  this  earthly  help,  and  yet  main- 
tain love  alive  in  my  heart?  Can  I,  without  family 
ties  to  constrain  me,  go  on  caring  for  others  ?  Can  I 
escape  the  danger  of  isolating  myself,  and  living  in 
selfishness,  gross  or  refined  ?  I  recall  many  a  fearful 
instance  of  this  in  others  !  Is  it,  in  short,  weakness  to 
say  to  myself,  *  Thou  canst  not  dispense  with  the 
earthly  helps  to  a  loving  spirit,'  or  is  it  arrogance  to 
believe  that  I  no  longer  need  such  ?  I  do  not  know 
how  to  answer  this  question." 

It  was  not,  however,  by  answering  this  question,  nor 


CHANGES    IN    LIFE.  481 

by  reflecting  upon  the  lawfulness  of  second  marriages 
in  general,  that  Perthes'  irresolution  was  subdued,  but 
by  an  increasing  attachment  to  the  lady  with  whom 
he  wished  to  contract  such  a  marriage. 

"  My  own  experiences  amaze  me,"  he  writes  a  few 
weeks  later  to  Rist ;  "  the  varying  moods  familiar  to 
the  innocent  heart  of  the  boy  in  his  first  love,  the  en- 
thusiastic tenderness  that  found  vent  in  happy  melan- 
choly and  universal  good-will  to  all  creation,  these  lay 
far,  far  behind  me  like  a  lovely  dream,  and  no  wish 
had  power  to  call  them  back.  But  now  I  feel  again 
as  I  did  then.  How  is  this  possible  in  a  man  of  my 
age  ?  how  can  I,  whose  heart  has  been  so  tempest- 
tossed  by  time  and  by  the  world  ;  how  can  I,  who 
have  known  so  much,  sinned  so  often,  return  thus  to 
the  innocent  fondness  which  nestles  in  the  newly- 
awakened  heart  of  a  boy  ;  for  I  can  call  it  nothing  else  ? 
I  feel  like  a  child,  I  cry  to  myself  'Awake,  and  pray  ; ' 
but  there  is  no  discord,  no  warning  voice  within  ;  I 
can  pray  and  hold  the  most  fervent  communion  with 
my  dear  Caroline  still." 

Perthes  was  thoroughly  aware  of  the  strength  of  the 
influence  he  was  under.  A  few  days  later  he  again 
wrote  to  Eist  : — "  I  know  that,  when  an  attachment 
has  once  taken  possession  of  the  human  heart,  the 
balance  is  lost,  and  self-deception  is  almost  unavoid- 
able. There  tlien  remains  but  one  way,  prosaic  yet 
sure,  of  discerning  right  from  wrong  ;  and  that  is  to 
prove  one's  heart's  desire  by  a  reference  to  the  claims 
of  others.  Do  I,  in  following  my  own  heart's  im- 
pulses, interfere  with  any  man's  right,  disturb  any 
man's  peace?  am  I  liindered  in  the  activity  which  my 
calling  requires,  and  can  I  fulfil  my  duty  to  her  (Char- 


432  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

lotte's)  cliildren,  without  failing  in  duty  towards  my 
own?  I  feel  that  increasing  sorrow,  on  account  of 
these  poor  little  invalids,  would  await  me,  and  that  in 
regard  to  them  I  should  have  no  easy  task  ;  but  with- 
out a  participation  in  this  trial,  I  should  not  feel  jus- 
tified in  uniting  their  mother's  destiny  to  mine." 

Perthes'  decision  was  taken  in  the  middle  of  Sep- 
tember, but  he  did  not  declare  himself  till  a  month 
later.  The  answer  he  received  was  favorable,  but  not 
decisive,  and  time  was  asked  for  calm  consideration. 
Perthes  had  believed  that  such  a  delay  would  have 
suited  him  exactly,  but  he  was  mistaken.  In  these 
days  of  suspense  he  wrote  confidentially  to  Rist,  say- 
ing, "  I  need  just  now  the  heart  of  a  friend,  and  desire 
that  you  should  know  all."  Perthes'  correspondence 
at  this  period  mirrors  with  wonderful  accuracy  the 
state  of  his  inner  man. 

One  letter  runs  thus  : — "  I  am  horrified  at  myself : — 
am  I  a  fool  and  self-deceived,  or  am  I  really  to  bear 
the  joys  and  sorrows  of  youth  and  to  battle  with  this 
unspeakably  excitable  heart  to  the  end  of  my  days  ? 
I  wrote  to  her  that  she  was  to  say  No,  if  she  was  un- 
able to  say  Yes  with  all  her  heart,  and  that  her  refusal 
would  find  and  leave  me  tranquil.  I  wrote  that  with 
perfect  sincerity,  and  now  her  refusal  would  shatter 
me,  and  her  consent  give  me  new  life." 

And  yet  these  letters  of  his,  overflowing  as  they  do 
with  intense  feeling,  are  written  under  the  fullest  con- 
sciousness of  his  own  inward  condition,  and  show  that 
he  was  able  to  analyze  and  estimate  it  coolly  and  im- 
partially. 

In  one  letter,  he  says,  "  I  feel  as  if  every  one  who 
saw  me  must  think  to  himself,  '  Ought  passion  to  hold 


I 


CHANGES   IN    LIFE.  433 

such  sway  over  a  man  of  his  age  ? ' "  In  another,  "  I 
have  had  of  late  new  experience  and  new  insight  into 
the  deep  places  of  the  human  heart,  and  this  season  of 
conflict  will  have  a  permanent  influence  on  me  for  time 
and  for  eternity." 

In  short,  in  Perthes  we  find  united  the  passionate 
youth  and  the  middle-aged  man,  and  the  latter  watches 
and  even  laughs  at  the  former. 

He  tells  Rist :  "  It  is  a  pity  that  Kotzebue  is  no 
more — he  would  be  charmed  with  the  whole  story." 

To  another  friend  he  says  : — "  All  human  affairs 
have  their  comic  side  ;  if  Charlotte  becomes  my  wife, 
being  as  she  is  my  son-in-law's  sister,  I  shall  be  my 
daughter's  brother-in-law,  and  Becker  will  be  his  sis- 
ter's son !  "  But  the  seriousness  and  stable  good  sense 
of  the  man  finally  won  the  mastery.  He  says  to  Rist  : 
"  It  were  indeed  sad,  if  all  the  labor  and  discipline  of 
my  past  life  were  to  be  in  vain.  I  have  a  firm  will, 
and  with  faith  and  prayer  shall  get  over  this  ere  long." 

However,  such  a  state  of  excitement  could  not  long 
continue  without  obtaining  a  decision  one  way  or  an- 
other. The  25th  October  was  the  day  of  betrothal. 
Perthes  wrote  to  Rist : — "  Charlotte  had  always  felt 
towards  me  esteem  and  confidence  ;  now  the  fervor  of 
my  love  has  conquered  her,  and  she  is  mine.  The  storm 
is  laid,  and  I  am  again  at  rest ;  but  I  do  not  believe 
that  my  peace  was  ever  more  deeply  disturbed." 

Somewhat  later  he  writes, — "  We  have  had  some 
weeks  of  quiet  intercourse,  and  easily  understand  each 
other's  inner  life,  though  this  understanding  is  of  quite 
another  kind  from  that  which  existed  between  my  Car. 
oline  and  myself.  Indeed,  the  characters  of  the  two 
are  so  dissimilar,  that  it  is  impossible  to  bring  them 
19 


434  CAUOLTXE    PERTHES. 

into  one  and  the  same  picture.  I  cannot  compare  them 
— each  of  them  stands  apart  in  my  thoughts.  Our  re- 
lation to  the  outer  world  is  rendered  singular  by  the 
circumstance  of  Charlotte's  having  first  known  me  in 
Gotha,  where,  a  stranger  among  strangers,  I  am  cut  off 
from  all  connexion  with  the  friends  and  transactions  of 
my  earlier  life.  Thus  all  the  letters  that  I  receive  must 
needs  appear  to  her  fragments  of  an  unfamiliar  and 
antiquated  world.  It  is  impossible  to  me  to  give  a 
connected  account  of  myself,  that  is,  of  the  external 
facts  of  my  early  life  ;  I  must  trust  to  Charlotte's  grad- 
ually finding  them  out." 

Towards  the  end  of  December,  Perthes  writes : — 
"  Behind  me  lies  a  year  filled  with  anxieties,  occupa- 
tions, conflicts,  and  experiences  ;  before  me  a  period 
which  will  not  be  less  rich  in  all  these,  and  will  bring 
me  more  work  than  ever.  Free  as  I  was  a  little  time 
ago,  I  was  able  to  embark  at  once  in  important  meas- 
ures connected  with  my  new  calling,  without  any  pain- 
ful anxiety  as  to  my  means.  But  now,  greater  foresight 
and  increased  effort  are  necessary,  and  hard  continuous 
labor  is  the  path  my  nature  points  out  for  me.  So  I 
need  not  fear  that  Charlotte  should  be  obliged  to  take 
time  from  her  children  to  devote  it  to  me ;  indeed,  it  is 
a  blessing  to  me  that  she  should  have  her  special  duties 
to  fulfil,  for  a  woman  who  depended  upon  me  for  the 
filling  up  of  her  time,  would  make  me  wretched.  Our 
common  task  is  to  labor,  watch,  and  pray,  and  God 
will  add  His  blessing  and  support." 

In  February,  1825,  Perthes  went  to  Berlin,  where  he 
remained  till  the  middle  of  March.  ''  I  thank  God,  I 
thank  Him  with  all  my  heart,"  lie  says  in  liis  first  letter 
to  his  betrothed,  "  that  He  lias  led  me  to  thee,  thou  dear, 


CHANGES   IN   LIFE.  435 

pious,  noble  soul.  Thy  letter  lies  before  me  ;  between 
ourselves,  I  have  kissed  it  just  as  a  youth  might  do  ; 
and  why  should  I  not  ?  If  feeling  be  true,  it  is  always 
young,  though  time  and  the  world  may  have  aged  the 
features.  Tliy  letter  makes  me  very  happy.  My  Char- 
lotte, all  that  thou  sayest  springs  from  so  simple  and  up- 
right a  mind,  that  it  promises  a  firm  and  perfect  under- 
standing between  us.  Thou  wishest  to  be  strengthened, 
elevated  in  spirit  by  me,  as  I  was  by  my  Caroline.  Dear 
Charlotte,  I  know,  indeed,  that  I  can  lead  thee  to  a 
knowledge  that  affords  security  for  thy  whole  being, 
yet  a  security  only  for  what  thou  already  hast ;  for 
God  has  been  with  thee  in  thy  trials,  and  He  is  with 
thee  still.  God  has  been,  and  is  with  me  also,  and  I 
have  the  knowledge  of  eternal  truth  ;  but  thou  art 
purer,  better,  more  stable  than  I.  I  have  an  excitable 
fervent  heart  of  love,  but  formerly,  my  beloved  Char- 
lotte, it  was  Caroline  that  sustained  me,  and  thou,  too, 
wilt  have  enough  to  do.  Hold  me  fast  to  thy  heart. 
My  restless  spirit  needs  to  be  restrained  by  the  arm  of 
love,  and  by  the  eye  of  love  that  looks  to  Heaven." 

A  few  days  later,  he  says,  "My  heart  is  true  and 
loving,  but  much  that  is  unstable,  wild,  transient,  im- 
pulsive, and  uncontrolled,  still  lives  and  stirs  in  me, 
and  the  repose  of  age  is  as  far  off  as  ever.  But  take 
me  as  I  am, — have  patience  w^ith  me, — love  me !  Thou 
must  support  me,  and  I,  too,  shall  support  thee, — that  I 
know  well." 

In  the  middle  of  March,  Perthes  returned  to  Gotha, 
but  he  was  soon  obliged  to  leave  it  again  for  Leipzig. 
On  the  15th  of  May  he  was  married.  On  the  day  fol- 
lowing he  wrote  to  Besser  : — "  I  parted  from  you  in 
Leipzig  with  deep  emotion.     Standing  at  the  gate  of  a 


436  ^  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

new  life,  it  seemed  as  though  I  was  bidding  an  eternal 
farewell  to  you,  the  companion  of  my  earlier  days. 
The  coach  that  carried  me  off  seemed  transformed  into 
a  ship,  that  bore  away  the  sailor  from  his  familiar 
scenes  into  an  unknown  Avaste.  My  past  lay  behind 
me  like  the  receding  shore,  becoming  more  and  more 
indistinct  each  moment,  and  my  future  stretched  out 
before  me  like  the  wide  untried  ocean,  in  which  no 
anchor  that  I  cast  would  hold.  The  evening  before 
last,  I  returned  with  bleeding  heart  and  mind  to  Gotha, 
and  Charlotte  alone  restored  me  to  peace  and  security. 
Yesterday  morning,  at  seven  o'clock,  we  were  married, 
and  we  spent  the  day  in  such  quiet  as  we  could.  To- 
day the  newly  united  family  have  sat  down  to  our  first 
dinner,  and  I  feel  marvellously  composed  and  peaceful.'' 
A  week  later,  Perthes  writes  : — "  I  have  never  in  all 
my  life  felt  such  thorough  satisfaction  and  security 
respecting  any  step  I  have  taken.  I  feel  as  though  the 
peace  of  God  had  settled  upon  me,  and  accordingly  I 
say,  '  God  be  praised.'  " 

Although  the  rest  after  which  Perthes  yearned 
throughout  life  Avas  certainly  not  conferred  upon  him 
by  his  new  connexion,  yet  this  second  marriage  proved 
a  source  of  blessing  and  happiness  greater  even  than 
he  had  anticipated  ;  though,  on  the  other  hand,  it  made 
many  claims  upon  him.  He  had  not  only  to  provide 
for  the  education  of  his  three  youngest  children,  but  he 
was  now  responsible  for  four  step-children  beside.  At 
the  age  of  fifty-three  he  had  to  begin  a  new  and  com- 
plicated domestic  career,  and  to  fulfil  many  duties  com- 
monly reserved  for  the  high  spirits  of  earlier  life. 
In  addition  to  all  this,  four  children  Avere  born  to  him 
Rudolph  in  1827,  Caroline  in  1828,  Augustus  in  1830, 


CHANGES   IN    LIFE.  437 

and  Eliza  in  1832.  The  illnesses  of  the  children,  the 
care  of  their  education,  and  the  noise  of  a  large  house- 
hold, certainly  affected  his  excitable  nature  more  than 
they  do  that  of  most  men  ;  but  not  for  a  single  moment 
did  he  feel  them  a  burden  :  on  the  contrary,  the  feeling 
of  gratitude  for  the  happiness  conferred  upon  him,  re- 
mained with  him  till  his  death.  He  wrote  as  follows 
to  Niebuhr  : — "  I  have  won  a  great  treasure  :  I  am 
loved  with  woman's  utmost  tenderness,  and  my  Char- 
lotte's noble  mind  discovers  nothing  in  me  which  lessens 
her  esteem." 

Perhaps  any  second  marriage  would  have  proved  a 
blessing  to  Perthes,  at  all  events  this  second  marriage 
was  so  to  such  an  extent,  that  they  who  knew  him  inti- 
mately could  not  imagine  what  would  have  become  of 
him  had  it  not  been  brought  about.  He  himself  says, 
"  I  feel  in  deep  humility  how  great  are  the  claims  that 
God  may  justly  make  upon  me.  Even  in  my  later  years 
he  has  done  great  things  to  preserve  love  alive  in  me  ; 
and  though  I  spake  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels, 
and  had  not  love,  what  were  I  but  sounding  brass  and 
a  tinkling  cymbal  ?  " 


XXXVII. 


T  was  about  this  time  that  Besser's  health  began 
)  to  fail  ;  and,  in  consequence  of  this,  he  had  fits 
of  deep  melancholy,  which  often  found  vent  in 
his  letters  to  his  old  friend,  who  tried  to 
comfort  him,  now  in  one  way,  now  in  another. 
"  It  is  your  body  which  again  inflicts  upon  you 
the  well-known  '  grey  season,'  and  no  one  is 
perfect  master  over  bodily  moods,  but  sometimes  you 
are  needlessly  uneasy  about  your  ability  to  get  through 
the  work  that  lies  before  you.  You  might  very  often 
scare  away  the  *  grey  '  mood,  by  calmly  considering 
how  trivial  are  the  causes  of  your  anxiety,  and  with 
what  ease  you  have  overcome  such  before.  But,  indeed, 
I  know  only  too  well  how  it  is  with  man  ;  the  head 
may  be  weary,  and  the  heart  full  of  love  and  devotion, 
or,  on  the  contrary,  the  head  clear,  and  the  heart  bar- 
ren and  cold  ;  but  sorrow  weighs  down  head  and  heart 
alike,  just  as  joy  brightens  both." 

In  another  letter,  he  says  :  "  I  know  that  you  are 
often  conscious  of  great  bodily  depression  ;  you  call  it 
sickness,  but  this  has  been  your  case  ever  since  I  have 

(438) 


CORRESPONDENCE.  439 

known  you,  and  it  is  necessary  to  be  as  intimate  with 
you  as  I  am  to  appreciate  fully  the  wealth  and  clearness 
of  your  mind.  So  you  see  you  announce  nothing  new 
to  me,  and  I  can  only  reply,  '  Take  courage,  till  life's 
pliantasmagoria  are  over.'  I,  too,  have  been  ailing 
these  last  few  days,  and  then  I  felt  as  though  I  had 
been  presumptuous  in  beginning  life  anew,  and  uniting 
another's  existence  to  my  own  ;  but,  however,  I  let  my 
Charlotte  comfort  me,  and  she  does  so  effectually." 

Again  we  find  Perthes  writing,  ''  You  say  that  life 
becomes  a  burden  ;  so  it  must  to  us  all  as  we  grow  old  : 
but  we  should  try  to  accustom  ourselves  to  a  new  race 
of  men,  or  rather  to  the  same  men  differently  dressed, 
on  whom  the  divine  Father  still  looks  down  with  a 
smile,  as  in  the  Berlin  painting.  While  we  live  we 
must  put  up  with  novelty,  but  1  shall  be  glad  to  die ; 
one  gets  tired  of  evermore  picking  off  one  husk  after 
another  from  the  kernel  of  truth." 

The  sufferer  wrote  in  reply,  during  the  summer  of 
1826,  "  You  have  found  out,  though  I  was  unwilling  to 
trouble  you  about  it,  that,  for  some  months  past,  my 
spirits  have  been  much  depressed.  I  am  always 
expecting  better  days,  and  they  will  come,  I  know,  but 
this  physical  and  mental  exhaustion  gives  me  many 
dark  hours.  Dejection  and  faint-heartedness  do  not 
improve  the  health,  and  body  and  mind  react  unfavor- 
ably on  each  other.  I  deserve  reproaches  for  not 
being  happy  in  my  happy  circumstances,  and  I  expect 
tliem  from  you,  but  sympatliy  as  well.  Ask  for  me 
strength  and  courage  from  Him  who.  alone  can  give 
them." 

Perthes  replied  as  follows  :  "  Ignorant  as  I  am  of 
your  present  circumstances,  it  is  difficult  for  me  to 


440  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

write  to  you,  my  dearly  loved  brother.  I  see  that  your 
spirits  are  depressed,  and  knew  it  indeed  before  you 
stated  it  plainly,  but  I  know  not  whence  this  depression 
comes.  Deeply  grieved  indeed  I  am,  but  how  reach 
out  a  helping,  comforting  hand  ?  You  speak  of  your 
*  happy  circumstances,'  and  you  are  right.  The  com- 
panion of  your  life,  the  mother  of  your  children,  stands 
at  your  side  in  the  prime  of  life  ;  your  children  grow 
up  satisfactorily,  you  can  look  at  them  all  with  glad 
hope,  and  you  have  given  your  daughter  to  the  worthy, 
true-hearted  Mauke,  who  is  at  the  same  time  a  support 
to  you.  You  have  friends  who  cordially  love  you,  you 
enjoy  great  social  consideration,  your  means  are  liberal 
and  independent,  and,  if  it  pleased  God  to  take  you 
away,  not  one  in  a  thousand  could  feel  equally  at  ease 
as  to  the  temporal  well-being  of  those  left  behind. 
God  has  greatly  blessed  you,  and  you  yourself  own  it 
when  you  say, — '  I  deserve  reproaches  for  not  being 
happy.^  Now,  as  to  happiness,  commonly  so  called, 
only  the  innocent  child,  or  the  day-dreaming  youth  can 
really  experience  it.  The  earnest-minded  man  cannot 
thus  be  happy,  it  is  only  the  shallow  and  self-sufficient 
who  can  trifle  on  gaily  through  life.  For  here  nothing 
endures  ;  what  most  we  love  is  torn  away  ;  all  is  brittle 
and  perishable,  and  we  ourselves  are  but  broken  reeds. 
Our  heart  overflows  with  love  to  some  dear  object,  and 
yet  how  imperfect  the  union,  how  weak  the  sympathy  ! 
And  even  he  wlio  knows  that  love  to  God  is  the  only 
enduring  love,  and  that  it  is  the  only  anchor  of  the  soul, 
how  deeply  he  feels  that  lie  can  but  seldom  draw  near 
to  his  Father  with  perfect  resignation  and  sincerity. 
Who,  then,  can  be  happy  in  such  a  state  as  this  ?  We 
are  not  to  be  so,  nay,  we  are  to  feel  tliat  we  lie  in 


CORRESPONDENCE.  441 

chains,  that  we  live  in  an  element  uncongenial  to  our 
nature,  and,  fighting  humbly  and  manfully,  we  are  to 
follow  the  light  that  leads  us  out  of  our  darkness.  Now 
all  this,  dear  brother,  you  not  only  know  but  feel.  So 
long  as  I  have  known  you,  you  have  been  loving  and 
lovable  to  all  around  you,  you  have  never  given  way 
to  pride  or  vanity  ;  you  have  endured  hardness  and 
weariness  in  full  reliance  upon  God,  and  the  way  of 
reconciliation  through  his  Son  has  long  been  open  to 
you.  Therefore  the  core  of  your  being  must  be  sound, 
the  burden  is  only  a  material  one,  it  is  your  body  that 
oppresses  you,  and  physical  causes  reach  deep  down, 
not  only  appearing  in  actual  disease,  but  exercising  an 
invi^ble  influence  over  the  spirit  itself.  Your  bodily 
frame  is  not  in  unison  with  your  loving  nature,  your 
lively  fancy  and  elastic  activity  ;  therefore  you  have 
always  felt  hampered  and  have  become  a  humorist,  who 
has  good  and  bad  hours  and  days,  and  many  a  sudden 
alternation  of  sun  and  shower  to  undergo.  Even  in 
your  youth  you  had  dark  seasons  when  you  shrank 
within  yourself  for  fear  of  grieving  others  :  and  now 
that  your  blood  is  no  longer  young,  you  need  not  be 
surprised  if  the  old  enemy  return,  and  cast  a  dark  pall 
over  every  tiling.  You  have  been  weaving  again  a  dark 
web  of  feeling  and  thought,  which  holds  you  fast  as 
though  it  were  of  iron  strength,  while  in  reality  it  is 
but  a  spider's  web.  Tear  yourself  away  from  it  all, 
for  three  or  four  weeks,  I  beseech  you.  I  demand  this 
as  your  friend  and  brother  ;  I  demand  it  for  the  sake 
of  your  family  and  that  of  the  business.  Tear  yourself 
away  and  come  to  us  ;  make  up  your  mind  and  set  off 
without  delay." 

Besser  did  not  come,  but  he  recovered  somewhat. 
19^ 


442  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

However,  the  improvement  was  not  lasting.  On  the 
6th  of  December,  tidings  reached  Gotha  of  Besser^a 
having  been  fatally  attacked  by  nervous  fever.  In  a 
few  hours  Perthes  was  on  his  way,  travelling  day  and 
night,  and  reached  Harburg  on  the  evening  of  the  8th, 
too  late  however  to  cross  the  Elbe.  A  newspaper 
lying  in  the  inn  apprised  him  of  Besser's  death  five 
days  before. 

He  wrote  liome  : — "  I  arrived  too  late,  they  had 
already  buried  my  beloved  Besser.  In  him  I  have  lost 
the  friend  of  my  youth,  the  only  one  who  knew  what  I 
am,  and  how  I  became  what  I  am.  Many  have 
experienced  his  affection  and  benevolence,  but  I  alone 
fully  knew  the  capacities  of  his  mind.  We  liad  been 
friends  in  joy  and  sorrow  for  more  than  thirty  years.'' 

Besser's  death  brought  about  another  change  in 
Perthes'  outward  circumstances.  "You  see,  my  dear 
friend,"  says  he  in  a  letter  to  Niebuhr,  "  that  I  am  in 
my  old  place  once  more,  and  must  go  out  again  into  the 
great  market,  where  I  did  not  wish  to  end  my  days.  It 
is  almost  impossible  that  Mauke,  able  and  worthy  as 
he  is,  should  carry  on  so  large  a  business  alone." 

However,  it  did  not  prove  necessary,  as  Perthes  had 
feared,  that  he  should  return  to  Hamburgh  ;  but  hence- 
forth all  manner  of  hard  work  was  added  to  the  joyful 
and  sorrowful  events  with  which  his  life  was  filled. 
Children  and  grand-children  were  born  to  him,  and 
manifold  were  the  sicknesses  and  deaths,  pleasures  and 
anxieties,  which  agitated  the  large  family  circle. 

In  1827,  Perthes  lost  his  eldest  step-son,  and  he 
writes  thus  concerning  him  : — "  We  could  not  but  wish 
to  see  him  freed  from  his  sufferings,  but  even  I  miss 
the  boy's  sweet,  sad  look,  and  his  affectionate  ways 


J 


CORRESPONDENCE.  443 

more  than  I  could  bave  supposed.  Our  little  Rudolph 
is  a  real  godsend  to  his  mother,  and  even  in  her  grief 
she  cannot  resist  his  liveliness  and  loveliness." 

Perthes  had,  in  1827,  taken  his  second  son,  Clement, 
to  Hamburgh,  to  attend  the  academical  gymnasium 
there,  before  entering  the  University.  But  the  father's 
anxiety  was  not  decreased  by  this  removal  of  his  son 
from  his  immediate  care.  A  great  number  of,  dis- 
tinguished men,  too,  paid  him  longer  or  shorter  visits 
during  this  period,  amongst  wliom  were  Ranke,  Oken, 
Bunsen,  Tholuck,  Haller,  Parish,  &c.,  &c.  Perthes  in 
his  correspondence  touches  with  pleasure  upon  these 
visits. 

In  one  of  his  letters  he  says  :  "  Haller  of  Hamburgh 
was  with  me  a  few  weeks  ago  ;  his  judgment  and 
penetration  surprised  me  anew,  and  I  truly  esteem  him 
for  having  in  spite  of  them,  preserved  such  a  benevolent 
heart,  and  such  childlike  ingenuousness." 

While  in  Bonn,  Perthes  again  spent  most  of  his  time 
with  Niebuhr.  He  writes  of  him  thus  : — "  On  seeing. 
Niebuhr,  after  a  long  interval,  I  always  experience  a, 
painful  degree  of  shyness  ;  because  in  spite  of  l\is  inteU 
lectual  greatness,  his  universal  knowledge,  ^nd  his  keen 
discrimination,  I  am  conscious  that  I  take  a,  truer  view 
of  many  subjects  than  he  does,  and,  consequently,  often 
feel  myself  obliged  to  oppose  him  in  spite  of  his  supe- 
riority. Added  to  this,  the  strange,  almost  unpleasant 
peculiarities  of  his  manner  ;  for  example,  his  restless 
walking  up  and  dowi^  the  room  all  the  tinae  he  is  talk- 
ing. But  this  shyness  so,on  gives  way,  his  natural  can- 
dor and  good-heartedness  triumphing  over  all.  I  an^ 
more  than  ever  struck  witli  the  singularities  of  hia 
character,  and  yet  I  never  found  him  so  cordial  or  sq 


444  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

gentle.  His  emotion  at  parting  overcame  me  much. 
He  came  to  me  twice  after  I  had  taken  leave,  and  said, 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  '  I  have  hardly  one  other  old 
friend  like  you.'  Niebuhr  is  happy  in  his  present  sit- 
uation, and  with  his  present  employment,  and  yet  were 
a  political  post  offered  him,  he  would  hardly  refuse  it. 
His  political  opinions  are  not  irrevocably  fixed  :  once 
he  remarked  that  time  corrected  many  of  his  judg- 
ments ;  that  he  now  justified  much  that  he  once  con- 
demned, and  condemned  much  that  he  once  justified  ; 
and  that  thus  he  had  become  more  cautious  in  his  deci- 
sions. This  time,  too,  he  avoided,  evidently  on  pur- 
pose, all  conversation  about  religion.  When  he  dis- 
puted Schiller's  influence  being  beneficial  to  youth,  I 
asked  him  whether  he  himself  remembered  any  interval 
between  the  personal  experience  of  the  boy  and  the 
learned  man.  He  grew  melancholy  and  was  silent. 
But  it  is  very  certain  that  Niebuhr  never  had  a  season  of 
youth,  yet  he  now  exercises  an  extraordinary  influence 
over  youth.  Young  Dr.  Classen  of  Hamburgh,  with 
his  industry,  acquirements,  and  sincere  attachment,  was, 
he  told  me,  a  daily  delight  to  him.  One  of  Niebuhr's 
strange  peculiarities  is  his  stammering,  not  over  words, 
but  sentences  ;  he  will  repeat  the  same  sentence  six  or 
seven  times  in  the  most  different  ways.  The  reason 
is,  that  owing  to  his  wide  range  of  imagination  and 
immense  amount  of  information,  language  cannot  keep 
pace  with  his  thoughts.  In  Niebuhr  there  is  a  strange 
mixture  of  the  statesman  and  the  savant,  of  refinement 
and  awkwardness,  yet  he  is  truly  a  great  and  noble 
man.  He  keeps  himself  quite  independent,  and  says 
openly  whatever  he  thinks.  Before  I  saw  him,  a  man 
high  in  office  said  to  me  with  a  dash  of  envy  :  '  Niebuhr 


CORRESPONDENCE.  445 

can  say  and  do  what  would  be  allowed  in  no  other 
person  ;  he  is  a  crony  of  Schleiermacher's,  is  often 
with  Cousin,  and  enjoys  the  unlimited  confidence  of 
the  Crown-Prince,  who  is  ever  asking  what  Niebuhr 
says  of  tliis  and  that.'  I  found  Schleiermacher  wonder- 
fully changed.  Formerly  I  had  known  him  for  a  keen, 
sarcastic,  violent  humorist,  but  now,  whether  lively  or 
quiet,  he  is  uniformly  serene  and  indulgent ;  his  sharp 
features  have  acquired  an  expression  of  peace  ;  repose 
and  gentleness  are  now  his,  and  love,  which  struggled 
so  long  with  intellect,  will  conquer  yet.  God  has 
vouchsafed  him  an  excellent  wife,  who  will  assist  him 
to  gain  the  final  victory.  The  impression  he  made 
upon  me  answered  exactly  to  his  own  words  some  time 
ago,  viz.,'  I  wish  neither  to  offend  nor  to  injure  any  one  by 
my  theological  writings  :  I  strive  in  all  things  with  all 
my  might  to  "  speak  the  truth  in  love,"  and  hope,  by  God's 
help,  never  to  be  moved  again  from  this  position.'  " 

Of  the  numberless  letters  written  and  received  by 
Perthes,  the  majority  related  to  business,  many  to  poli- 
tics, and  many  to  ecclesiastical  affairs  :  but  he  also 
received  communications  from  men  of  the  most  varied 
character,  who  asked  his  advice,  his  aid,  or  his  sympa- 
thy, in  circumstances  the  most  miscellaneous,  sometimes 
the  most  singular. 

One  man,  whom  he  had  never  seen,  consulted  him  on 
the  choice  of  a  wife.  For  six  years  this  person  had 
daily  resolved  upon  matrimony  ;  but  the  fear  of  embit- 
tering his  wliole  future  life,  by  a  mistaken  choice,  ever 
restrained  him  :  he  was  now  thirty  years  of  age,  and 
felt  certain  that,  left  to  himself,  he  would  remain  un- 
decided to  the  end  of  his  days.  "  Choose  for  me  a 
bride,"  he  wrote  to  Perthes,  "  and,  at  a  word  from  you, 


446  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

I  shall  set  out,  marry  her,  and,  as  long  as  I  live,  revere 
you  as  the  author  of  my  happiness." 

To  this  ''  strange  but  honest  fellow,"  as  Perthes  called 
him  in  a  letter  to  Besser,  the  following  answer  was 
made  :  '*  Marry  you  must  ;  for  yours  is  a  case  in  wliich 
science  and  business  would  not  be  adequate  safeguards 
against  onesidedness.  I  am  not  one  of  tliose  who  liken 
the  choice  of  a  wife  to  a  man  fumbling  in  a  basket  of 
snakes  for  the  single  eel  which  is  among  them  :  I  am 
rather  inclined  to  think  that  marriages  are  made  in 
heaven,  not,  however,  without  the  cooperation  of  men. 
A  frank  boldness  is  required.  Youthful  fancy  is  often 
most  successful,  catching  at  once  the  right  object,  or 
being  caught ;  but  whoever,  like  you,  racks  his  brains, 
and  scrutinizes  every  possibility,  finds  of  course  on  all 
sides  dangerous  rocks.  You  should  remember  that 
the  absence  of  positive  badness  is  itself  a  great  point 
in  creatures  such  as  we  are,  and  that  too  much  positive 
goodness  is  not  to  be  expected.  Look  out,  then,  among 
the  daugliters  of  your  own  land  ;  and,  if  that  avail 
nothing,  make  a  tour  in  the  wide  world.  A  man,  thirty 
years  of  age,  should  do  notliing  by  halves,  and  if  ho 
go  to  work  with  sound  sense  and  an  earnest*  purpose, 
God  will  be  his  helper." 

To  another  young  man  :  "  Beware  of  disclosing  too 
freely  your  religious  convictions  to  the  lady  you  name. 
Except  in  marriage,  a  thorough  understanding  cannot 
exist  between  a  man  and  a  woman  :  out  of  it  they  arc 
enigmas  to  each  other." 

Again  :  "  Instruction  and  training  have  compara- 
tively little  influence  on  the  position  of  women.  A 
naturally  intelligent  woman  shines  everywhere,  even 
with  little  acquired  knowledge  and  refinement :  on  the 


CORRESPONDENCE.  447 

other  hand,  if  she  be  nothing  in  herself,  then,  spite  of 
all  instruction  and  polish,  she  appears  awkward  and 
common.  A  man,  however,  counts  for  something,  if 
he  have  but  the  superficial  acquirements  and  polish 
obtained  by  intercourse  with  the  world,  or  if,  though 
stupid  and  awkward,  he  have  learning." 

To  a  young  man,  whose  age  may  be  guessed  at  from 
twenty  to  thirty  :  "  In  early  youth  every  girl  is  charm- 
ing, and  the  object  of  desire  ;  in  the  later  years  of 
manhood,  again,  one  sees  in  both  girl  and  woman,  above 
all  things,  our  common  humanity  ;  we  rejoice  over  the 
good,  and  put  up  with  the  bad  ;  but  at  your  time  of 
life,  a  man  is  neither  quite  blind  nor  yet  perfectly  open- 
eyed,  and  consequently  his  judgments  are  at  fault." 

After  congratulating  Henry  Ritter  on  his  marriage, 
Perthes  continues :  "  Marriage  is  God's  chief  gift. 
The  bachelor  may,  indeed,  accomplish  great  things  in 
the  outer  world,  but  he  cannot  penetrate  into  the  inner 
life  of  men  and  things.  The  community  of  earthly 
joys  and  sorrows  in  marriage  discloses  to  us  the  heav? 
en  of  our  origin  and  destiny.  In  the  course  of  a  long 
married  life,  I  have  had  much  suffering  and  sorrow, 
much  care  and  anxiety  :  but,  unmarried,  I  had  not  been 
able  to  live." 

On  another  occasion  :  "  As,  since  the  introduction  of 
Christianity,  woman,  from  being  a  mere  instrument  in 
tile  propagation  of  the  species,  and  a  beast  of  burden 
to  man,  has  acquired  an  independent  position,  and  a 
distinct  recognized  value  of  her  own,  so  likewise  man 
has  made  a  step  in  advance.  He  has  begun  to  form 
ideals.  First  of  all  he  idealized  woman,  and  his  re- 
lation to  her  ;  but  this  resulted  in  a  disposition  to 
idealize  everything — a  disposition  of  which  the  Greeks 


448  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

and  Romans,  and  the  whole  ancient  world  knew  noth- 
ing, but  which  has  exercised  an  incalculable  influence 
on  modern  liistory.  Christianity  makes  large  and 
heavy  claims  in  regard  to  the  relation  between  man 
and  woman,  such,  indeed,  as  were  never  dreamt  of 
before  :  every  man  has  now  a  secret  history  of  his 
own  in  regard  to  these  claims ;  and  that  history 
varies  according  as,  in  his  struggle  to  satisfy  them, 
he  has  simply  persevered,  actually  conquered,  or  fair- 
ly succumbed.  No  third  party  can  be  a  witness  of 
this  struggle  ;  yet  on  its  issue,  the  man's  whole  life,  as 
noble  or  base,  useful  or  baneful,  essentially  depends." 

Having  congratulated  Rist,  v/hose  children  were  as 
yet  all  young,  and  at  home,  on  his  domestic  happiness, 
Perthes  continues  :  "  This,  too,  is  but  for  a  time,  and 
it  will  be  far  otherwise  when  your  children  begin  to 
entertain  thoughts,  wishes,  hopes,  and  views  of  their 
own, — when,  one  after  another,  they  leave  the  nursery 
and  the  house  on  their  several  ways.  The  tenderest 
strings  of  your  parental  heart  will  then  be  broken.  I 
have  experienced  it  myself,  and  I  may  freely  say  so, 
as  my  own  children  have  given  me  cause  only  for  joy  ; 
still  they  go  their  own  way  and  must  do  so." 

To  a  dear  friend  who  sought  consolation  for  himself 
and  his  wife  from  Perthes,  on  occasion  of  their  son's 
death  :  "  To  lose  a  child  I  What  that  means  no  man 
can  know  but  by  experience.  From  earliest  child- 
hood we  indeed  see  that  the  ties  of  affection  are  broken 
asunder  :  but  what  comfort  does  that  bring  to  the 
sorrowing  father  and  mother !  Cling  to  one  another 
in  your  grief ;  let  neither  conceal  it  from  the  other  ; 
do  not  try  to  calm  one  another  down,  but  rather  let 
your  sorrow  flow  out  into  a  common  stream  ;  it  will 


CORRESPONDENCE.  449 

then  be  changed  into  a  quiet  happiness,  and  will  unite 
you  more  intimately  than  mere  prosperity  ever  could 
have  done.  Cling  to  one  another,  I  say  ;  community 
of  love  changes  the  profoundest  grief  into  a  blessing 
from  God."  On  receiving  a  letter  of  thanks,  in  which 
the  same  party  acknowledges  Perthes  to  have  proved 
the  best  comforter  among  all  his  friends,  and  adds, 
that  henceforth  the  period  of  unbroken  domestic  hap- 
piness lies  behind  him,  like  an  ancient  world.  Perthes 
writes  again  :  "  It  is  even  so.  From  the  moment  of  a 
child's  death,  the  parent's  eye  is  dulled,  and  the  beauty 
of  life  gone.  Every  little  accident,  a  cough,  a  change 
in  the  tone  of  voice,  excites  cruel  anxiety.  All  know, 
that  a  family  seldom  remains  unbroken,  but  no  one  ap- 
plies the  observation  to  himself,  till  a  loved  one  is 
taken  away,  and  then  he  believes  it  indeed  ;  for  deep 
down  in  his  breast  sorrow  gnaws  on.  The  parent  sub- 
mits to  the  stroke,  but  cannot  get  above  it.  Gone ! 
gone  !  yes,  that  is  it !  To  be  no  longer  able  humanly 
to  love  this  particular  child,  no  more  to  receive  from 
it  a  caress;  that  is  the  eternal  pang!  Then,  to  be 
obliged  to  leave  a  child's  corpse — which  is  always  heav- 
enly— for  the  world  outside,  is  horrible  !  Everything 
appears  so  little  and  trifling,  compared  with  the  great 
experience  just  made.  You  were  right  not  to  keep 
away  your  other  cliildren  from  the  death-bed  and  the 
coffin.  To  talk  children  into  sadness  is  vain  ;  but  we 
may  not  too  anxiously  keep  them  from  the  view  of 
realities  :  they  should  early  learn  to  look  the  lot  of 
man  in  the  face,  and  they  can  bear  it.  A  mother,  by 
the  sick-bed  of  her  child,  teaches  us  the  full  power 
which  lies  in  human  nature :  the  husband  is  appalled 
at  his  own  comparative  backwardness.     Time,  also, 


450  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

has  less  power  over  woman's  grief  than  over  man's. 
Faithfulness  is  the  noblest  tiling  in  human  nature  ;  and 
it  is  the  peculiar  property  of  woman." 

To  an  aged  man  who  had  lost  a  son  twenty-two 
years  of  age  :  "  The  younger  the  child,  the  closer  the 
bond,  as  its  very  flesh  and  blood  seem  still  to  be  ours  : 
the  older,  the  more  does  it  differ  from  us  ;  it  becomes 
even,  in  a  sense,  estranged  by  the  possession  of  a  will 
and  of  feelings  independent  of  ours.  The  loss  of  a  son 
in  the  bloom  of  youth  brings  with  it  both  a  peculiar 
sorrow  and  a  peculiar  consolation  ;  for  the  purity  of 
youth  is  nearly  allied  to  the  ideal.  The  youth's  ex- 
pectation of  accomplishing  great  things  is  sure  to  be 
disappointed  in  after  years  ;  but  your  son  has  carried 
with  him  all  his  hopes  with  their  bloom  untouched. 
Twenty-two  years,  as  you  write,  is  a  fine  age  to  die  at, 
better  than  forty-two  or  fifty-two  ;  yet*  for  me  at  least 
the  battle  of  life  was  necessary  ;  and  I  am  still  attach- 
ed to  life  chiefly  by  the  hope  of  gaining  a  complete 
victory  within." 

A  friend,  residing  at  a  great  distance,  wrote  to  Per- 
thes complaining  that,  in  ripe  age,  he  was  humiliated 
by  onsets  of  passion,  such  as  he  had  never  experienced 
before,  and  could  not  resist.  Perthes  thus  endeavor- 
ed to  allay  the  storm  : — "He  who  is  assailed  by  pas- 
sion, as  you  are,  is  not  old,  no  matter  how  many  years 
he  can  count.  It  is  exceodingly  humiliating  to  find 
one's  self  overcome  by  the  animal  powers  ;  but,  when 
these  fail,  it  is  not  the  man  who  has  left  sin,  but  sin 
which  has  left  the  man  ;  and  he  will  find  it  not  easier, 
but  more  difficult,  to  rise  up  to  God.  In  this  world 
war  is  life,  peace,  death  ;  and  we  must  battle  on  to  the 
end  to  gain  the  crown." 


CORHESPONDENCE.  451 

Often  as  Perthes  bestowed  a  glance  on  the  inward 
and  outward  condition  of  others,  his  own  development 
was  still  ever  with  him  the  chief  subject  of  examina- 
tion, nay,  of  wonder,  and  even  anxiety  ;  and  he  fre- 
quently unbosomed  himself  to  his  friends.  Thus  to 
Rist : — "  Few  men  have  enjoyed  all  along  such  oppor- 
tunities of  intercourse  with  children  as  myself ;  and, 
through  observation  of  them,  many  things  in  my  own 
development  are  only  now  becoming  clear  to  me.  The 
child,  as  soon  as  it  can  use  its  senses,  feels  itself  to  be 
only  a  fragment  of  nature  ;  it  sees  and  hears  things 
w^iich  are  new,  but,  because  the  child  is  itself,  as  yet, 
merely  a  bit  of  nature,  it  wonders  at  nothing.  For  a 
few  years  it  lives  only  with  what  is  close  at  hand. 
The  clear-running  stream  is  dearer  to  it  than  the  lieav- 
ing  ocean  ;  the  flower  more  charming  than  the  forest ; 
the  hillock  on  which  it  tumbles  about  is  more  to  it 
than  the  mountain  ;  the  child  finds  everything  in  har- 
mony with  itself.  When,  however,  thought  awakes, 
when  the  child  comes  into  contradiction  with  its  own 
will,  and  enters  on  a  struggle,  of  which  the  object  and 
the  issue  are  alike  unknown,  then  does  the  boy  begin  to 
feel  himself  severed  from  nature,  and  the  youth  to 
long  for  something  which  shall  correspond  to  him,  to 
his  heart  and  mind.  Alternately  deceived  and  un- 
deceived, the  man  must  then  work  through  the  years 
of  life-apprenticeship.  Throughout  the  whole  season 
of  youtli,  man  communicates,  by  fancy  and  love,  through 
nature  and  the  creature,  with  God.  Youth  is  poesy, 
but  advanced  life  has  quite  a  different  character.  To 
love  iiinnkind  in  old  age,  and  to  remain  steadfast  in 
love  even  to  death,  is  exceedingly  difficult.  Things 
are  in  the  end  reversed  :  youth  rises  through  man  to 


452  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

God — age  descends  througli  God  to  man.  A  youthful 
warmth  of  feeling  can  be  preserved  in  old  age  only  by 
faith  and  humility  ;  and,  whereas  there  is  hardly  any- 
thing more  repulsive  than  old  age  without  warmth, 
love,  on  the  other  hand,  or  even  kindliness,  gives  peace 
and  assurance  to  the  conscience,  notwithstanding  the 
profoundest  conviction  of  sin."     ' 

Genial  old  age  was  illustrated  by  Perthes  himself  in 
an  eminent  degree.  He  greatly  enjoyed  the  renewal 
of  old  acquaintanceships,  even  when  these  had  been  of 
the  most  casual  description  ;  and  his  method  of  pro- 
cedure appears  in  the  following  letter  : — "  One  cannot 
be  long  with  a  stranger,  in  a  diligence  for  example, 
without  noticing  his  peculiarities,  his  strong  and  weak 
points,  his  taste  for  this  or  that  beauty  in  nature,  his 
perception  of  this  or  the  other  relation  among  men. 
One  proceeds  accordingly  ;  and,  if  the  stran^^^er  be 
equally  complaisant,  there  arises  an  agreeable  relation, 
capable  of  producing  all  manner  of  fruit.  I  have  fre- 
quently contracted  such  travelling  marriages,  as  I  may 
call  them,  and  during  the  last  few  hours  of  our  com- 
mon journey,  I  have  always  been  saddened  by  the 
thought  that  a  kindly  relation  of  man  to  man  was 
about  to  be  broken  up.  I  have  ever  afterwards  heartily 
welcomed  a  fellow-traveller  of  the  sort,  even  wlton  his 
face  looked  quite  different  in  the  house  from  wiiat  it 
did  in  the  carriage.  Men  differ  in  understanding,  but 
love  brings  them  together."  In  another  letter  : — "  I 
have  shown  much  kindness  to  some  men,  lor  which 
I  have  received  no  thanks  ;  and  that  pains  me  :  but  I 
have  received  much  more  kindness  from  others,  and  I 
often  search  in  vain  for  lively  gratitude  in  my  heart, 
which  pains  me  still  more." 


CORRESPONDENCE.  453 

Perthes'  native  kindliness  did  not  prevent  the  de- 
cided expression  of  his  views.  He  was  not  easily,  and 
never  long,  irritated  by  the  opposition  of  others,  pro- 
vided he  thought  it  sincere  ;  but  against  insolence, 
falsehood,  indifference,  and  baseness,  he  blazed  up  in- 
stantly and  violently,  even  in  cases  where  he  was 
under  no  obligation  to  speak.  His  views  were  these  : — 
"  I  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  man  who  cannot 
be  moved  with  indignation.  There  are  more  good 
people  than  bad  in  the  world,  and  the  bad  get  the 
upper  hand  merely  because  they  are  bolder.  We  can- 
not help  being  pleased  with  a  man  who  uses  his  powers 
with  decision  ;  and  we  often  take  his  side  for  no  other 
reason  than  because  he  does  so  use  them.  No  doubt, 
I  have  often  repented  speaking ;  but  not  less  often  I 
have  repented  keeping  silence." 

In  administering  reproof,  Perthes  generally  hit  the 
nail  on  the  head.  To  an  inflated  personage  he  once 
wrote  :  "  You  may  see  by  Jacobi  that,  if  scholars  have 
often  an  insufferable  temper,  a  petty  character,  and 
selfish  dispositions,  scholswship,  at  least,  is  not  to 
blame."  Again  :  "  You  insist  on  respect  for  learned 
men  ;  I  say,  Amen.  But,  at  the  same  time,  don't  forget 
that  largeness  of  mind,  depth  of  thought,  appreciation 
of  the  lofty  experience  of  the  world,  delicacy  of  man- 
ner, tact  and  energy  in  action,  love  of  truth,  honesty, 
and  amiability — that  all  these  may  be  wanting  in  a 
man  who  may  yet  be  very  learned." 

To  a  young  man  :  '*  You  know  only  too  well  what 
you  can  do  ;  but,  till  you  have  learned  what  you  can- 
not do,  you  will  neither  accomplish  anything  of  mo- 
ment, nor  know  inward  peace." 

To  a  man  who,  in  order  to  escape  the  annoyances  of 


454  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

public  life,  confined  all  liis  intercourse  to  his  wife  and 
children,  and  boasted  of  his  seclusion,  Perthes  wrote  : 
"  Beware  !  The  fear  of  unpleasant  collisions  outside 
the  house,  and  not  the  joys  of  the  domestic  circle 
itself,  may  account  for  your  boasted  seclusion.  The 
domestic  life  does  not  mean  seclusion  from  others,  but 
discipline  of  one's  self ;  it  is  not  negative,  but  positive, 
and  he  only  can  enjoy  domestic  life  who  has  borne,  and 
still  bears,  the  burden  of  public  life." 

Not  only  in  letters  of  reproof,  but  in  many  others 
also,  does  that  bold  freshness  come  out  which  charac- 
terized Perthes'  youth.  A  friend  had  written  him  that 
whoever  lives  to  eighty  years  of  age  may  be  sure  of 
outliving  his  reputation,  alleging  that  all  the  octoge- 
narians, from  Bliicher  to  Wieland  and  Goethe,  had 
done  so.  Perthes  answered  :  "  Certainly,  the  age  be- 
yond fifty  brings  with  it  peculiar  dangers,  among 
which,  however,  I  do  not  reckon  this,  that  of  late 
years  I  have  had  a  son  and  two  daughters  baptized. 
No  doubt,  I  can  look  back  on  much  sorrow,  care,  and 
trial ;  but  I  am  still  of  opinion  that  a  sterling  man  is  not 
complete  till  old  age.  In  my  own  case,  I  cannot  com- 
plain of  too  much  age,  but  rather  of  too  much  youth, 
which  torments  me  with  unrest,  and  with  whatever 
else  you  please.  In  presence  of  so  many  old  young 
people,  I  often  fear  lest  there  be  in  me  something  of 
the  wandering  Jew !" 

Perthes'  later  years  exhibited  the  same  struggle  be- 
tween energetic  activity  and  a  longing  for  repose,  which 
pervaded  his  earlier  life.  Once  he  wrote, — "  I  still 
take  an  interest  in  a  thousand  things,  yet  only  by  fits 
and  starts  ;  for,  after  all,  in  order  to  be  cheerful  and 
content,  I   require,   besides  my  family  relationships 


CORRESPONDENCE.  455 

only  a  quiet  room  with  a  few  books,  a  mountain  and  a 
wood,  a  couple  of  intelligent  men,  solitude  when  I 
want  it,  and  freedom  from  bores.  This  is  little,  and 
yet  much."  Again  :  "  I  cannot  learn  to  be  at  rest ; 
and  I  often  fear  lest,  by  way  of  a  refining-fire,  blind- 
ness or  lameness  be  reserved  for  my  latter  days  ;  which 
the  good  God  in  His  mercy  forbid !"  . 

Later  still :  "  Besser's  death  has  increased  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  attract  me  to  the  other  world.  Mani- 
fold indeed  is  the  attraction  :  my  Caroline  and  Besser 
stand  beside  each  other  :  then  the  old  Schwarzburg 
lieutenant-colonel,  who  was  the  father-like  guide  of  my 
youth,  and  my  first  love,  Frederika  ;  then  Claudius 
and  Jacobi ;  then  my  children  who  died  young  ;  and, 
which  is  strange,  the  attraction  to  my  father,  whom  I 
never  saw.  Whether  the  inborn  impulse  towards 
energetic  activity,  or  the  no  less  profound  capacity  for 
repose  in  love  and  contemplation,  or  whether  both 
shall  fill  up  our  eternity,  w^ho  can  tell?"  About  the 
same  time :  "  Life  seems  to  me  monstrously  long  ; 
what  a  terrible  sameness  in  the  midst  of  variety.  To- 
day, as  fifty  years  ago,  I  see  sparrows  and  dogs,  sheep 
and  goats  ;  they  are  always  dijBferent,  yet  to  me  they 
seem  always  the  same.  Viewed  from  a  distance,  it 
does  not  seem  difficult  to  die  :  yet  they  only  who  have 
experienced  death  can  tell  what  it  is  ;  and  they  who 
have  experienced  it  are  silent  to  us." 


XXXVIII. 


^ERTHES  had  watched  with  intense  interest 
the  progress  and  the  increase  of  evangelical 
religion  in  Germany.  He  wrote  to  Rist,  in 
reply  to  one  of  his  enthusiastic  letters,  as  fol- 
lows : — "  The  eye  of  youth  is  ever  attracted 
by  some  lofty  aim,  and  its  heart  blessed  by 
ingenuous  faith  in  success.  But  when  youth 
passed,  and  the  grown  man  wished  to  realize  his  former 
dreams,  the  whole  was  found  to  be  a  gross  deception. 
What  did  many  of  those  become  who,  in  the  Kantian 
period,  thought  themselves  the  elite  of  mankind  ?  Mere 
red-tapists,  lost  in  paltriness.  What  did  many  of  those 
become,  who,  in  the  era  of  mighty  genius,  or  in  the 
period  of  Gleim,  Georg,  and  Jacobi,  seemed  to  over- 
flow with  spirit  and  fancy  ?  Mere  organ-grinders,  a 
weariness  to  themselves  and  others." 

Perthes  considered  that  a  great  improvement  had 
taken  place  in  Germany  during  his  own  lifetime.  In 
1826  he  wrote  to  the  Countess  S.  Sto'lberg :  "  The 
contemporaries  of  your  youth  were  also  mine  ;  my  rec- 
ollections of  the  middle  and  lower  classes  run  parallel 
with  yours  of  the  higher,  and  are  equally  sad.  But 
since  the  French  Revolution,  the  rod  of  divine  chastise- 
ment has  not  been  wielded  in  vain  on  our  lacerated 
(456) 


CHRISTIAN   ENTERPRISE.  467 

country.  The  sensual,  godless  frivolity  of  last  century 
wanders  about  now  only  as  a  dusky  obsolete  ghost ; 
good  seed  has  been  sown  ;  and  it  will  bring  forth  by 
and  by  the  genuine  fruits  of  Christianity." 

In  many  parts  of  Germany,  endeavors  were  made  to 
satisfy  the  profound  wants  of  the  human  soul ;  but  the 
Christian  life  can  neither  become  nor  remain  sound, 
unless  Christian  thought  and  feeling  go  out  into  action. 

In  carrying  on  Christian  enterprises  by  joint  effort, 
Protestant  Germany  remained  far  behind  England. 
Isolated  attempts  were  indeed  made,  but  they  were 
exclusively  the  work  of  individuals,  and  ever  bore  the 
stamp  of  their  individual  origin.  With  some  such 
Perthes  cooperated  in  Hamburgh  ;  but  the  most  re- 
markable of  them  all  was  commenced  at  Weimar,  by 
John  Falk,  councillor  of  the  embassy. 

In  the  vicinity  of  the  battle-fields  of  Jena,  Ltitzen, 
and  Leipzig,  there  were  to  be  found  a  multitude  of  boys, 
partly  belonging  to  the  district,  partly  brought  from 
all  parts  of  Germany,  by  the  armies  that  had  fought 
there  ;  they  had  run  wild,  and  Falk,  selecting  the  most 
destitute,  determined  to  make  honest  men  of  them.  A 
native  of  West  Prussia,  Falk  had  been  in  Weimar  since 
1796,  had  appeared  on  various  occasions  as  a  lyric  poet 
and  satirist,  and  was  frequently  pointed  to  as  a  type 
of  the  national  literature  in  decay.  It  seemed  incredible 
to  many  that  such  a  man  should  have  a  genuine  voca- 
tion for  such  an  enterprise.  Because,  notwithstanding 
all  Falk's  labor  and  care,  many  of  his  proteges  turned 
out  ill,  some  concluded  that  none  of  them  were  reform- 
ed ;  and  others  pretended  that  the  outlay  of  zeal,  effort, 
and  money,  was  in  ridiculous  contrast  with  the  paucity 
of  results. 

20 


458  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

A  friend  wrote  to  Perthes  :  "  Falk  is  so  impressible 
and  fanciful,  that  the  dreadful  destitution  of  the  youths, 
and  their  subsequent  improvement  may  very  well  both 
be  creatures  of  his  imagination.  Then  he  is  importu- 
nate in  seeking  subscriptions,  and  aid  of  every  kind  : 
he  is,  in  fact,  a  bore.  He  has  a  few  enthusiastic  fol- 
lowers ;  but,  in  general,  he  is  not  liked  here  :  people 
avoid  him,  and  laugh  at  him  behind  his  back." 

Yet  this  same  man,  the  butt  of  ridicule,  was  the  au- 
thor of  that  movement  for  the  reformation  of  children, 
abandoned  in  every  sense  of  the  term,  which  continues 
to  this  day.  In  1820  he  had  300  children  in  his  own 
house ;  and  had  stirred  up  Jena  and  Erfurt  to  similar 
eiforts. 

Although  Perthes  entertained  some  scruples  about 
Falk  himself,  he  yet  recognized  at  once  the  real  im- 
portance of  his  undertaking,  awakened  an  interest  in 
its  behalf  in  Hamburgh  and  Holstein,  and  procured  for 
it  considerable  pecuniary  aid. 

In  1821,  Falk  wrote  to  Perthes  :— "Amid  the  chil- 
dren I  find  consolation  and  support,  when  I  am  tempted 
to  despair  ;  for  this  is  indeed  an  evil  time  :  insurrec- 
tion lurks  behind  the  constitutions,  and  Sand's  dagger 
lies  concealed  behind  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  Men 
pass  like  wind-bags  :  they  eat  and  drink,  work  and 
sleep,  as  if  there  were  no  such  thing  as  an  immortal 
soul ;  they  do  not,  indeed,  in  so  many  words  deny 
God,  but  their  whole  life  is  practical  atheism  :  nor  will 
matters  be  mended  so  long  as  men  regard  preaching 
and  the  hearing  of  sermons  as  a  Christian  act,  whereas 
Christian  action  is  itself  the  true  sermon.  The  death 
upon  the  cross  is  the  sermon  of  sermons,  and  the  pat- 
tern for  all  others :  acted  sermons,  not  sermons  preached, 


CHRISTIAN    ENTERPRISE.  459 

is  the  want  of  our  age.  God  has  deigned  to  make  me 
his  instrument ;  truly  in  the  fire  of  affliction  He  has 
moulded  me,  in  the  valley  of  tears  prepared  me.  I 
have  put  my  hand  to  the  work  in  reliance  on  the 
mighty  God  ;  and  you  also,  my  dear  friend,  has  God 
chosen  to  be  a  powerful  coadjutor.  Work  along  with 
me  then,  while  it  is  day,  that  what  has  been  begun  in 
God's  honor  may  be  joyfully  finished  in  His  name. 
The  idea  which  has  possessed  me,  will  spread  through- 
out Germany  and  all  Christian  Europe;  already, 
indeed,  it  has  risen  up  in  might,  and,  with  hands  and 
feet,  may  be  seen  walking  and  working  at  Dorpat  and 
in  Paris  alike  :  already  the  doors  of  the  children's 
prisons  are  being  thrown  open,  both  in  Germany  and 
France.  Hitherto  we  Protestants  have  been  like  the 
hermit-crab,  which  takes  possession  of  a  shell  not  its 
own,  for  we  robbed  the  Catholics  of  their  cloisters,  in 
order  to  provide  a  refuge  for  our  children :  that  is  con- 
venient, but  not  noble;  and  it  is  amazing  what  re- 
sources are  in  the  people  themselves,  if  we  but  knew 
how  to  call  them  forth.  What  we  want,  however,  must 
be  obtained  from  God  by  prayer  and  love,  not  as 
hitherto  by  violence  and  craft.  The  military  knights 
have  played  out  their  part ;  not  even  against  the 
Turks  is  the  sword  now  drawn  :  the  arts  of  diplomacy 
are  worn  out ;  not  even  a  fratricidal  war  can  all  the 
congresses  prevent.  0  ye  kings  and  fathers  of  the 
people !  One  thing  is  needful ;  let  the  fear  of  the  Lord 
be  established  in  your  hearts,  and  in  those  of  your 
subjects;  otherwise  you  and  they  are  destroyed  to- 
gether." 

Again  : — "  Could  you  see  us,  you  would  rejoice  and 
bless  God.     The  children  of  robbers  and  murderers 


460  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

sing  psalms  and  pray  :  hoys  are  making  locks  out  of 
the  insulting  iron,  which  was  destined  for  their  hands 
and  feet,  and  are  building  houses,  which  they  formerly 
delighted  to  break  open.  Yes,  it  is  indeed  true  that, 
where  chains  and  stocks,  the  lash  and  the  prison  were 
powerless,  love  comes  off  victorious." 

Later  still : — "  I  and  my  300  children  must  leave 
our  old  habitation,  because  the  proprietor  has  sold  it ; 
and  no  one  is  willing  to  receive  us,  because,  as  may 
easily  be  fancied,  no  one  is  willing  to  give  up  his  house 
to  300  such  children  as  mine.  We  shall  build  then, 
and  with  the  hands  of  our  own  children  too,  so  that  eve- 
ry tile  in  the  roof,  every  nail  in  the  walls,  every  lock  on 
the  doors,  every  chair  and  ever}^  table  in  the  rooms, 
shall  be  a  witness  to  their  industry." 

Of  course  Falk  concluded  with  pressing  solicitations 
for  pecuniary  aid.  Perthes  did  what  he  could,  and,  in 
the  spring  of  1822,  paid  him  a  visit  in  Weimar. 

Perthes  thus  reports  in  a  letter  to  Benecke  :  "About 
fifty  journeymen  and  apprentices,  all  of  them  former 
inmates  of  the  Ragged  Hospital,  were  working  at  the 
new  building  as  masons  and  carpenters  ;  they  were 
served  by  boys  still  in  the  institution  ;  horrid,  canni- 
bal-like faces  had  they  all,  with  the  wolf  of  the  desert 
unmistakably  imprinted  on  their  foreheads.  In  the 
expression  of  many,  however,  there  were  traces  of  a 
new  life ;  and  Falk  says  it  is  a  real  pleasure  to  see 
how  the  claws  and  the  shaggy  tufts  gradually  fall 
off. 

Falk's  own  room  is  a  perfect  gem,  with  this  inten- 
tion, perhaps,  that  the  children  may  recognize  in  him 
their  true  father  ;  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  had  also 
an  eye  here  to  the  gratification  of  his  own  fancy.     Al 


i 


CHRISTIAN    ENTERPRISE.  461 

together  Falk  appears  to  me  an  exceedingly  remarkable 
man  :  his  command  of  happy  and  striking  images  in 
conversation  is  wonderful  ;  the  rapidity  of  his  fancy 
hurries  along  first  himself  and  then  his  hearers,  so  that 
fact  and  fancy  dance  at  once  through  the  minds  of 
both.  He  is  at  the  same  time  shrewd,  yea,  cunning, 
and  knows  right  well  what  key-note  to  strike,  accord- 
ing to  persons  and  circumstances.  I  am,  however, 
quite  convinced  of  his  thorough  earnestness,  now  that 
I  have  seen  him  and  the  institution  ;  and  it  is  not  his 
fault,  if  he  be  a  poet  into  the  bargain.  He  himself, 
and  still  more  his  undertaking,  deserve  our  support  ; 
many  have  much  good  to  say  of  him,  and  even  his  bit- 
terest enemies  know  no  ill." 

To  Falk  himself  Perthes  wrote  :  "  Your  success  in 
impressing  the  hearts  of  these  neglected  children,  and 
in  winning  over  new  supporters  to  your  cause,  arises 
from  this,  that  you  yourself  are  entirely  occupied  with 
one  idea  :  what  has  no  relation  to  it  is  nothing  to  you, 
and  what  has  only  a  slight  relation  you  consider  only 
as  auxiliary  to  its  realization ;  small  successes  appear  to 
you  great  ;  obstacles  and  failures  do  not  appear  at  all. 
He  who  is  thus  filled,  thus  prepossessed  I  may  say,  by 
one  impulse,  when  he  listens  to  his  inmost  soul,  may 
hear  only  profound  truth  ;  but  when  he  speaks  to  oth- 
ers, they  may  hear,  according  to  Goethe's  happy  expres- 
sion, '  Wahrheit  und  Diclitung.'  He  who  cannot  i-ec- 
ognize  the  deep  truth  of  inspiration,  will  not  under- 
stand you,  may  even  misunderstand  you  ;  and  therein 
lies  a  danger  both  for  you  and  your  cause." 

Baron  Kottwitz,  whose  antecedents  were  in  striking 
contrast  with  Falk's,  had  even  before  him  carried  on 
a  similar  work  in  Berlin.     In  the  spring  of  1825,  Per- 


462  CAROLINE  PERTHES. 

tbes  visited  repeatedly  that  truly  pious  man's  institution, 
and  he  thus  reported  of  it  to  some  of  his  friends  :  ''  I 
have  known  Baron  Kottwitz  for  five-and-twenty  years. 
For  a  long  time  I  considered  the  dullness  of  his  eye, 
and  the  gentleness  of  his  whole  nature  as  signs  of  fee- 
bleness, and  consequently,  though  respecting  his  piety, 
I  was  little  attracted  to  him,  for  I  have  never  been  a 
friend  to  pale,  sharp-featured  ascetics.  In  Kottwitz, 
however,  I  have  been  mistaken.  To  know  him,  one 
must  see  him  in  the  midst  of  those  wretched  creatures 
whom  he  has  gathered  about  him.  I  have  left  him 
with  a  feeling  of  reverence  ;  and,  though  seventy-six 
years  of  age,  one  cannot  too  much  admire  his  decision, 
perseverance,  and  that  all-piercing  knowledge  of  man- 
kind, whereby  he  detects  not  only  the  sins,  but  even 
the  petty  tricks  of  the  human  heart." 

Again  :  "  After  having  made  valuable  observations, 
among  the  mountains  of  Silesia,  on  the  misery  of  the 
poor,  and  the  best  means  of  alleviating  it,  and  sacrific- 
ing a  considerable  portion  of  his  property,  Kottwitz 
went  to  Berlin.  '  There,'  said  lie  to  me,  '  is  a  popula- 
tion of  the  most  abandoned  character,  brouglit  together 
by  the  establishment  of  factories  in  that  city,  at  the 
instance  of  Frederick  the  Great ;  there  are  20,000  of 
them,  and  it  sliall  be  the  business  of  my  life  to  dimin- 
ish their  number.'  All  this  misery — profligate  wom- 
en, stunted  children,  disbanded  soldiers  of  the  old 
Prussian  type,  famished  factory  work-people  who  lived 
on  brandy, — he  collected  in  an  ancient  royal  edifice, 
ceded  to  him  for  the  purpose  :  twenty  long  years  he 
spent  in  the  midst  of  this  wretched  and  disgusting 
filth.  He  forced  no  one  to  come,  or  to  work,  or  to  re- 
ceive Christian  consolation  or  instruction  ;  but  to  all 


CHRISTIAN    ENTERPRISE.  463 

he  offered,  with  mild  earnestness  and  love,  the  comfort 
and  aid  of  our  Saviour,  and  an  opportunity  of  work. 
That  the  offer  was  not  made  in  vain  I  could  mysolf  see 
from  the  confidence  and  freedom  with  which  these  poor 
wretches,  cast  off  by  all  the  world  besides,  approached 
him.  His  object  is,  so  soon  as  they  get  accustomed  to 
regular  work,  to  distribute  them  among  the  small 
towns  in  the  neighborhood,  where  hands  are  scarce. 
Then,  at  his  request,  the  magistrate  assigns  them  a  cot- 
tage and  a  patch  of  potato-land  at  a  small  rent,  and 
the  Berlin  manufacturers  send  them  work  to  be  done 
at  home.  He  says  that  a  considerable  number  of  men, 
who  have  passed  through  his  hands,  are  now  leading 
a  moral  life,  and  enjoying  that  health  which  is  insured 
by  cleanliness,  fresh  air,  and  easily  accessible  field- 
Avork  ;  he  thinks,  too,  that  the  mass  of  the  debased  pop- 
ulation in  Berlin  has  been  diminished,  though  no  doubt 
this  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  clearance  which  time  makes 
in  such  a  population,  and  to  the  gradual  extinction  of 
the  military  rabble." 

Perthes  was  connected  with  undertakings  of  the 
same  description  on  the  lower  Rhine.  Count  Adel- 
bert  von  der  Recke,  laying  to  heart  the  misery  begot- 
ten by  the  wars,  and  the  subsequent  dearth,  opened  a 
house  of  refuge,  in  1819,  for  orphan  and  criminal  chil- 
dren at  Overdyk,  and  in  1822  a  larger  one  at  Diissel- 
thal.  In  1827  the  chaplain  wrote  to  Perthes  the  fol- 
lowing notice  of  these  institutions  :  "  We  have  240 
boys  and  girls  under  our  care,  and  thirty  Jewish  pros- 
el}  tes  who,  besides  receiving  instruction,  learn  a  handi- 
craft. Instead  of  trading  on  their  conversion,  as  such 
persons  often  do,  and  so  bringing  disgrace  on  the 
Christian  name,  they  will  be  able  to  earn  their  own 


404  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

living  honestly,  by  having  been  employed  with  us,  as 
locksmiths,  weavers,  joiners,  or  brewers.'' 

Popthes  hoped  that  Protestantism,  now  in  course  of 
revival,  would  not  only  sustain  and  carry  out  these 
attempts,  but  in  due  time  convert  them  into  ecclesi- 
astical establishments. 

The  following  proof  of  the  far-seeing  wisdom  of 
Perthes  is  remarkable  : 

"  Napoleon's  conversations  at  St.  Helena  are  like  his 
whole  former  life,  filled  with  contradictions.  He  holds 
legitimacy  to  be  a  necessity,  and  yet  seizes  at  the  crown 
by  force  ;  he  seeks  to  do  away  with  class  differences, 
and  yet  bows  low  before  the  aristocracy  ;  he  intensely 
despises  the  French,  and  yet  considers  it  the  highest 
earthly  honor  to  be  born  a  Frenchman  ;  he  abhors 
England,  but  believes  France  and  England  united 
could  sway  the  world  ;  he  has  completely  done  with 
life,  and  yet  his  fancy  is  ceaselessly  occupied  in  de- 
vising means  of  regaining  freedom  ;  he  is  filled  with 
the  loftiest  pride,  and  yet  tortured  by  the  lowest 
vanity.  But  this  does  not  involve  falsehood,  each  of 
these  contradictory  moods  being  for  the  time  earnest 
and  true.  Napoleon  was  not  like  Frederick  the  Great, 
the  same  at  all  times,  a  distinct  personality  asserting 
itself  equally  under  all  varieties  of  external  circum- 
stance. Napoleon  was  rather  whatever  some  inward 
impulse  or  some  outward  impression  might  for  the 
moment  make  him.  Like  Goethe,  he  was  constrained 
to  give  form  and  shape  to  whatever  he  was  feeling  at 
the  time  ;  his  changing  mood  expressing  itself  not  in 
poetry  but  in  bulletins  and  notes  ;  his  passionate  feel- 
ings not  in  romances  and  dramas,  but  in  diplomatic 
negotiations." 


CHRISTIAN   ENTERPRISE.  465 

A  friend  in  North  Germany  wrote  to  Perthes  :  "A 
few  days  ago  I  went  into  a  print-seller's  shop,  and  saw 
a  multitude  of  copper-plates  in  honor  of  Napoleon  and 
his  family,  which  have  newly  appeared,  and  are  for- 
bidden in  France.  '  Who  buys  them  ?  '  I  asked. — 
'  Who  ! '  said  the  man  ;  *  they  are  the  very  things  which 
sell  best  at  present.  Confectioners,  hucksters,  and 
mechanics,  all  are  cursing  England  now,  and  buy 
greedily  the  like.' "  Perthes  answered  :  "  Napoleon 
will  yet  become  the  idol  of  the  age ;  many  are  already 
longing  for  another  such  despot  to  appear ;  and  it  is  quite 
possible  that  theii'  desire  may  be  gratified^  for ^  out  of  fer- 
mentations like  the  present^  dragons  may  well  arise. 

There  are  thousands  who  would  destroy  everything, 
that  no  one  might  possess  more  than  themselves,  and 
other  thousands  would  be  quite  pleased  to  lie  in  chains, 
provided  all  who  either  liave  more,  or  are  greater  than 
themselves,  were  reduced  to  like  degradation."  To  an 
invitation  from  a  friend  that  Perthes  would  join  him  in 
some  social  festivities  on  Napoleon's  commemoration- 
day,  Perthes  answered  :  "  Certainly  I  consider  Napo- 
leon to  be  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  remarkable 
phenomena  in  the  history  of  mankind  ;  but  I  set  too 
high  a  value  on  fi'eedom  and  the  free  development  of 
our  race  to  accept  your  invitation.  Napoleon  was  a 
mighty  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Providence,  and 
when  he  had  done  his  work,  and  was  no  longer  needed, 
he  was  thrown,  like  other  worn-out  tools,  into  a  cor- 
ner ;  for  not  in  himself,  but  only  as  an  instrument,  had 
he  any  importance." 
20* 


XXXIX. 


OWARDS  the  close  of  his  life,  Perthes  him- 
self came  to  see  that  theology  was  aiming  at 
a  position  in  the  Christian  life  which  no 
science  could  possibly  hold.  In  a  letter  to 
Dorner,  dated  June,  1842,  after  expressing 
his  conviction  that  Strauss  and  Co.  were 
hastening  to  their  downfall,  he  continues  : 
'  But  would  the  condition  of  the  Protestant  Church 
be  thereby  improved?  -Even  if  to-day  we  argue  the 
devil  down  into  the  abyss,  who  knows  but  his  grand- 
mother may  rise  from  it  to-morrow  with  more  subtle 
analysis,  and  a  glibber  tongue  ?  Truly,  dialectics  are 
a  fine  art !  For  myself,  it  was  through  the  conscious- 
ness of  sin  in  the  forms  of  sensuality  and  pride,  that  I 
came  to  recognize  my  need  of  redemption,  and  the 
truth  of  God's  revelation  in  Christ.  Whoever  dis- 
dains this  way,  will  wander  through  speculation  and 
mystic  symbolism,  to  pantheism,  if  he  be  intellectual ; 
or,  if  he  be  superficial,  will  take  the  convenient  road 
of  progress  to  perfection,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  being  the 
trainer-in-chief.  You  say,  that  many  can  hardly  at- 
tain faith  till  certain  difficulties  are  solved  for  them 
scientifically,  and  that,  for  that  reason,  the  Church  has 
need  of  science.  I  doubt  if  any  one  was  ever  led 
through  science  to  faith,  till  his  very  bones  and  mar- 
(466) 


DEATH   OP   NIEBUHR.  467 

row  quivered  under  tliis  question  :  '  Oh,  wretched 
man  that  thou  art !  who  shall  deliver  thee  from  the 
body  of  this  death  ?  " 

Again  :  "  Now-a-days  science  is  at  once  the  starting- 
point  and  the  goal  of  Protestanism.  Even  with  the 
best  among  the  theologians,  Christianity  is  but  a  stage 
on  the  way  to  science  ;  and,  whilst  they  are  anxiously 
ferreting  out  scientific  results  with  which  to  prop  up 
their  faith,  the  age  is  demanding  not  Christian  theology 
but  the  Christian  Church,  not  notions  but  deeds,  not 
the  ideal  of  Christ  but  His  very  person." 

It  is  not  often  that  a  man  who  carries  on  his  calling, 
be  it  what  it  may,  with  great  energy  and  an  unflinching 
sense  of  duty,  has  tlie  good  fortune  to  be  popular.  But 
Perthes  had  always  inspired  esteem,  liking,  and  confi- 
dence in  all  with  whom  his  profession  brought  him  into 
contact.  Authors,  old  and  young,  sought  his  acquaint- 
ance, and  works  of  every  sort  were  offered  him  in  pro- 
fusion. About  two  thousand  such  offers  were  found 
amongst  his  papers,  and  they  afford  many  a  significant 
insight  into  the  all-pervading  tendency  of  our  nature  to 
rush  into  print.  We  find  the  well-knowa  author  side 
by  side  with  the  village  school-master,  the  gentleman 
of  rank,  the  man  of  office,  and  the  man  of  wealth,  and 
endless  is  the  variety  of  forms  in  which  they  all  give 
out  that  they  are  occupied  upon  a  work  of  rare  impor- 
tance, while,  at  the  same  time,  all  betray  their  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  reception  the  public  will  give  it.  Here 
an  earnest  man  firmly  believes  that  he  is  making  over 
with  his  manuscript  the  best  part  of  his  life  ;  there  Q^ 
bold,  brusque  fellow  plainly  declares  that  gain  is  the 
only  motive  for  his  activity. 

Perthes  was  on  confidential  and  friendly  terms  with 


468  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

almost  all  the  authors  with  whom  he  had  any  perma- 
nent connexion.  Tlic  countless  letters  which  he  wrote 
in  his  professional  career  are  of  a  singularly  mixed 
character,  revealing  the  experienced  man  of  business 
conscious  of  his  own  capacity. 

To  a  man  who  had  occupied  an  important  position 
under  Napoleon,  as  a  tool,  and  who  applied  to  Perthes 
in  November  to  assist  him  in  publishing  a  periodical 
of  revolutionary  tendency,  Perthes  replied  : — "  I  am 
astonished  that  you  should  dare,  at  this  time,  to  appear 
again  among  us  Germans ;  and  indignant  that  you  should 
suppose  me  capable  of  lielping  you.  A  man  who,  not 
twenty  years  ago,  betrayed  his  prince,  and  for  filthy 
lucre's  sake  accepted  a  situation  which  obliged  him  to 
perpetrate  the  most  horrid  cruelties,  should  keep  silence, 
and  thank  the  invisible  powers  that  he  is  forgotten. 
You  are  a  wretch  and  stand  on  the  brink  of  the  grave  ; 
therefore  I  shall  hold  my  peace  ;  but  if  you  speak  out 
publicly,  then  so  shall  I,  undismayed  by  the  fate  of  two 
men,  whose  blood  is  already  at  your  door." 

On  the  17th  December,  1830,  Niebuhr  sent  to  Perthes 
the  follow^ing  letter,  the  last  but  one  he  ever  w^rote  : — 
''  My  afflicted  heart  would  find  relief  in  writing  some 
such  address  to  the  Germans  as  you  indicated  in  your 
last :  but  prudence  dissuades  me,  and  indeed  it  could 
not  produce  any  great  effect.  If  I  write,  and  it  please 
me,  I  shall  send  it  to  you.  Never  has  Germany  been 
so  untrue  to  herself  as  now  ;  and,  since  the  revolution 
in  Poland,  not  only  is  salvation  by  her  own  strength 
hopeless,  but  there  is  no  room,  which  yet  there  should 
always  be,  even  for  a  miracle  to  reestablish  order  in 
human  affairs.  I  understand  that  my  Preface  has  given 
great  dissatisfaction  to  the  wise  men  of  the  age.     Pos- 


DEATH    OF   NIEBUHR.  469 

terity  will  judge  otherwise.  You,  dear  Perthes,  are  at 
one  with  me,  of  course." 

Perthes  answered  : — "  When  you  say  that  Germany 
lias  never  been  so  untrue  to  herself  as  now,  I  allow  it 
in  respect  to  the  half-educated  of  the  nation,  who,  by 
manifold  writing  and  reasoning,  form  and  direct  public 
opinion  ;  but  the  recent  tumults  have  not  betrayed  a 
tlio rough  corruption  in  Germany.  Either  they  have 
been  mere  outbreaks  of  popular  joy,  such  as  happen 
ROW  and  then  in  all  countries,  or  there  have  been  causes 
for  them  such  as  are  always  followed  by  the  like  conse- 
quences.'" 

Niebuhr  was  dead  before  the  above  answer  reached 
Bonn.  In  a  letter  to  his  son,  Perthes  thus  refers  to  his 
deceased  friend  : — "  At  our  last  parting,  which  I  little 
thought  would  be  our  last,  Niebuhr  shed  tears.  Great 
is  the  loss  to  our  youth,  to  science,  to  our  country  ;  for 
rarely  have  so  much  talent  and  learning,  viewrf  at  once 
so  profound  and  so  extensive,  been  united  with  so  lov- 
ing a  heart.  He  has  been  taken  away  from  tlie  evil  to 
come  ;  for  whatever  turn  things  may  take,  much  must 
})appen  that  would  have  exasperated  him,  and  he  would 
not  have  been  able  to  stand  it  long.  His  death  will 
enable  you,  who  are  young,  to  measure  how  great  or 
how  little  a  single  man  is  in  this  world." 

A  few  weeks  later  : — "  I  shall  feel  the  loss  of  Niebuhr 
as  long  as  I  live.  Hardly  a  day  passed  but  I  saw^ 
heard,  observed,  or  thought  something  which  I  treas- 
ured up  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  him  about  it." 

On  the  same  subject  Rist  wrote  to  Perthes  : — "  One 
more  is  taken  away  of  those  who  worked  their  way 
through  this  mighty  period !  And  what  a  cotempo- 
rary !    The  terror  of  all  bad  and  base  men,  the  stay  of 


470  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

all  the  sterling  and  honest,  the  friend  and  helper  of 
youth.  You  knew  his  foibles  as  well  as  his  strong 
points,  and,  unlike  many  others,  you  never  came  into 
collision  with  him.  I  know  not  whether  I  should  have 
been  able  to  maintain  daily  intercourse  undisturbed 
with  one  who  was  no  less  passionate  than  intellectual, 
so  susceptible  in  fact  as  to  be  somewhat  peevish  ;  but  I 
do  know  that  no  friend,  from  whom  I  had  been  sepa- 
rated for  years,  ever  gave  me  so  agreeable  a  surprise  as 
he  did  eighteen  months  ago,  when  he  greeted  me  after 
a  long  absence  with  all  the  cheerfulness,  sincerity,  and 
elasticity  of  youth.  Two-and-thirty  years  ago,  when 
we  were  both  in  the  flower  of  youth,  I  recognized  his 
immense  superiority  ;  but  it  appeared  to  me  still  greater 
at  our  last  interview,  when  I  saw  how  he  had  preserved 
the  purity  and  ingenuousness  of  his  mind,  and  that 
power  which,  instead  of  bending  to  externals,  breaks 
through  them.  In  spite  of  his  favor  for  the  English 
aristocracy,  he  was  ever,  in  thought  and  act,  a  true 
people's  man,  and  on  this  account  I  feel  myself  inti- 
mately allied  to  Niebuhr  ;  but  I  still  hold  up  my  head, 
whilst  he,  misled  by  a  sort  of  piety,  despaired,  and  went 
down  to  the  grave  with  a  broken  heart." 

From  Count  Adam  Moltke  to  Perthes  on  the  same 
subject : — ''  Three  weeks  before  his  death,  I  received 
from  Niebuhr  a  letter  :  it  was  a  single  night- thought. 
The  quiet  of  resignation,  founded  on  the  providence 
of  God,  and  a  lively  hope  which  rejoices  in  itself,  were 
not  his.  He  was  more  a  citizen  of  the  ancient  world 
than  of  the  modern.  He  saw  through  the  ancient 
world  by  virtue  of  that  inspiration  which  love  only  can 
impart ;  he  knew  the  modern  world  intimately,  but  he 
did  not  understand  it,  because  he  did  not  love  it." 


XL. 

'utW  §0mtMk  mi  MmM  ^Ul 

1830-37. 

ERTHES,"  writes  his  intimate  friend 
Frommann,  "  was  not  only  honored  in  his 
large  circle  of  acquaintances  on  account 
of  his  upriglitness,  candor,  justice,  and 
liberalit}',  but  also  on  account  of  his  men- 
tal energy  :  his  distinguished  reputation 
continued  to  spread  every  year  more 
widely.  That  it  was  well  deserved  is  proved  by  the 
multitude  of  his  friends  amongst  Germany's  noblest 
and  best.  Friendship,  indeed,  was  a  necessity  not  only 
of  his  heart  but  his  mind,  and  this  necessity  was  satis- 
fied by  his  relations  alike  to  his  superiors  in  years,  posi- 
tion, intellect,  and  attainment,  and  to  those  who  were 
his  inferiors  in  these  respects.  The  weaknesses  of  his 
friends  did  not  escape  his  quick  eye,  but  he  loved  them 
none  the  less,  and  was  always  prone  to  exaggerate  those 
points  in  which  they  excelled  himself.  To  his  younger 
friends  he  was  especially  indulgent.  Differences  of 
opinion  in  religion  and  politics  neither  blinded  him  to 
the  faults  of  partisans  nor  the  merits  of  opponents,  and 
he  was  always  ready  to  help  and  advise  both.  He  was 
by  no  means  despotic,  but  quite  as  little  given  to  be 
servile  ;  perhaps  he  was  rendered  over  indifferent  to 
external  political  forms,  because  conscious  of  maintain- 

(471) 


472  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

ing  his  liberty  and  independence  under  them  all.  His 
frankness  of  speech  was  remarkable,  and  he  gave  many 
a  striking  proof  of  it.  He  understood  the  art  of  speak- 
ing with  the  utmost  calmness  and  naivete,  truths  which 
people  were  not  accustomed  to  hear,  and  which  they 
liardly  knew  how  to  take  ;  and  this  peculiarity  he 
would  display  not  only  in  presence  of  his  equals  but 
of  those  in  a  higher  rank,  as  well  as  to  those  far  below 
liim.  Impetuous  he  certainly  was,  yea,  very  impetuous, 
but  he  never  nursed  his  anger  nor  allowed  his  ultimate 
judgment  to  be  biassed  by  it." 

Perthes'  life  in  Gotha  had,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
become  rich  and  full  beyond  his  expectations,  and  he 
continued  to  retain  all  his  old  friends  and  acquaint- 
ance. "  When  I  reflect,"  said  he,  "  on  the  extent  of  my 
acquaintance,  Goethe's  words  occur  to  me,  '  The  stream 
rolls  wider  and  its  waves  increase,'  and  I  would  call  out 
to  all  to  '  hold  together  with  all  their  strength  alike  in 
the  sunshine  and  the  storm.'  To  me  at  least  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  let  any  go  from  me  who  once  stood 
near,  and  of  all  the  inward  gifts  God  has  given  me,  I 
am  most  thankful  for  the  consciousness  of  constancy. 
It  has  always  been  exquisitely  painful  t/O  me  to  see  any 
one  who  once  was  closely  united  to  mo  by  head  or 
heart  now  pass  me  coldly  by." 

Another  time  we  find  him  writing  :  **  What  you 
young  people  call  friendship  will  certainly  not  last 
forever,  least  of  all  now-a-days  ;  its  warmth  and  inten- 
sity belong  not  to  the  immortal  element  in  man,  but  to 
the  fresh  feelings  of  youth.  A  few  years  hence,  and 
feelings,  opinions,  convictions,  will  have  got  developed 
which  even  the  most  intimate  friends  will  fail  to  under- 
stand.    Amongst  older  men  friendship,  except  as  it 


473 


belongs  to  memor}^  consists  in  confidence  in  each  other^s 
earnest  striving  after  truth,  and  this  confidence  can 
outlast  all  changes."  To  all  that  Perthes  had  so  long 
possessed,  much  of  every  kind  was  added  during  his 
residence  in  Gotlia.  The  number  of  distinguished  men 
wlio  came  from  all  parts  of  Germany  to  visit  him  went 
on  annually  increasing,  and  his  continually  extending 
correspondence  with  historians,  theologians,  and  poli- 
ticians, introduced  him  to  all  the  interests  of  the  period, 
while  his  constant  study  of  the  biography,  correspon- 
dence, and  private  annals  of  the  previous  century,  led 
him  to  look  upon  the  events  of  the  day  not  as  detached, 
but  as  links  in  the  great  cliain  of  the  world's  history 
in  general,  and  of  our  own  important  epoch  in  partic- 
ular. It  was  an  unfailing  source  of  recreation  to  him 
to  express  his  views  of  the  present  and  the  past  to  a 
certain  distinguished  friend  of  his  who  had  a  very 
strong  hold  upon  his  heart. 

George  Rist,  member  of  the  Danish  Legation,  born 
in  1775,  was  descended  in  direct  line  from  the  old 
lyrical  poet ;  he  had  studied  at  Jena  in  the  days  of 
Fichte  and  Schelling,  and  had  then  been  appointed 
Secretary  to  tlie  Danish  Minister  of  Finance  in  Copen- 
hagen. In  1801,  he  went  with  the  Legation  to  Peters- 
burg, in  1803  to  Madrid,  and  in  the  eventful  year  1807, 
his  diplomatic  duties  led  him  to  London.  From  1808 
to  1813  he  had  lived  in  Hamburgh,  in  1814  he  was  sent 
to  Paris,  from  1817  to  1832  he  spent  his  time  between 
Hamburgh  and  Altona,  and  then  went  as  member  of 
the  newly  established  Schleswig-Holstein  Government 
to  Schleswig,  where  he  died  in  1847.  Rist  was  a  noble 
man  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  sincere  and  stable, 
and  equally  distinguished  by  the  qualities  of  head  and 


474  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

heart.  Even  in  liis  later  years  he  continued  devoted 
to  the  ancients,  especially  the  Greeks  ;  he  had  been 
attached  to  philosophy  from  the  time  he  had  listened  to 
Fichte  and  Schelling  ;  was  perfectly  at  home  in  English 
and  French  literature,  and  well  acquainted  with  the 
Spanish.  Perthes  and  he  differed  no  less  in  their  views 
and  opinions  than  in  their  outer  life.  Rist  was  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  former  cen- 
tury, yet  notwithstanding  he  gave  the  preference  to  tlie 
men  belonging  to  it  over  those  of  the  present  day,  and 
sure  of  not  being  misunderstood,  he  used  to  tease  Per- 
thes by  making  this  preference  conspicuous.  "  Our 
youth  was  far  more  enjoyable  than  that  of  the  present 
day,''  he  once  wrote  :  *'  how  pleasant  the  sentimentality- 
period  was,  and  Fichte,  and  Goethe,  and  the  Revolu- 
tion on  the  top  of  all.  Those  were  days  indeed  !  Now 
all  is  cold  and  old." 

In  religion  Rist  was  a  pious  Christian,  but  he  always 
declined  entering  into  dogmatical  questions.  "  I  read 
no  theological  works,"  he  once  said  ;  "  they  have  the 
unvarying  effect  of  raising  in  me  doubts  whicli  Scrip- 
ture itself  never  raises." 

Aristocratic  in  appearance,  manners,  and  habits  of 
life,  his  politics  were  extremely  liberal.  "  It  is  won- 
derful to  me,"  Perthes  once  wrote  to  him,  ''  that  you 
who  have  had  such  a  distinguished  career,  should  so 
often  take  pains  to  present  yourself  as  a  plebeian  to 
me,  the  tradesman." 

"  That  should  not  surprise  you,"  replied  Rist,  "  I 
have  had  to  fight  with  patricians  half  my  life,  even 
against  such  as  loved  me  and  were  loved  by  me."  Ever 
since  his  first  settlement  in  Gotha,  Perthes  had  carried 
on  an  unbroken  correspondence  with  this  friend  of 


475 


many  years,  in  which  both  freely  exclianged  political, 
literary,  and  ecclesiastical  opinions,  and  understood 
and  opposed  each  other.  The  very  difference  of  their 
points  of  view  gave  to  this  correspondence  a  peculiar 
charm.  As  Hist  once  said  in  a  letter  to  Perthes : 
"  One  writes  so  easily  and  comfortably  to  you  ;  what 
with  unity  in  gxeat  things,  difference  in  small,  even  a. 
conscious  exaggeration  of  our  own  views  on  both  sides, 
and,  above  all,  an  unchangeable  conviction  that  though 
sharp  words  may  be  used,  there  is  always  kind  feeling 
at  bottom.  Spite  of  all  our  protestations,  our  practi- 
cal life- paths  run  parallel ;  we  are  both  good  citizens, 
good  parents,  good  neighbors,  good  men  of  business, 
we  give  rather  than  receive,  strike  out  if  people  come 
too  near  our  heels,  bring  up  our  children  in  the  fear  of 
God,  and  live  in  hope  of  a  joyful  resurrection.  Now, 
this  I  call  the  practical  part  of  life,  and  in  this  we 
agree  intimately." 

Another  time  he  writes  :  '•  Our  children  will  learn 
much  from  our  letters  as  to  the  time  in  which  we  lived, 
and  will  see  that  there  were  two  independent  men  in 
Germany  who  wrestled  bravely  with  each  other  and 
with  the  world,  and  who,  if  early  placed  under  differ- 
ent circumstances,  would  have  developed  other  aspects 
of  character  which  must  now  remain  undeveloped  to 
the  end." 

The  variety  of  interests  and  impressions  which  Per- 
thes owed  to  his  calling  and  his  correspondence  were 
sometimes  a  little  oppressive  to  him  in  his  latter  years  : 
'•  From  early  youth,"  we  find  him  writing,  "  I  have 
been  subject  to  a  habit  of  fancy-painting,  to  a  sort  of 
internal  novel-writing,  which  often  followed  and  dis- 
turbed me  in  business,  which  did  not  entirely  absorb 


476  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

me.  Hence  arose  faults  and  mistakes,  and  the  vexa- 
tions and  loss  that  followed  these  taught  me  to  con- 
quer the  tendenc3\  But  in  another  form  I  have  still 
to  battle  witli  the  play  of  fancy.  However  perse ver- 
ingly  I  have  striven  to  acquire  a  habit  of  concentrated 
feeling  and  thinking,  I  still  have  to  struggle  with 
desultoriness,  with  sudden  inroads  of  t»^ie  most  uncon- 
nected ideas  ;  and  my  calling  is  a  great-  snare  to  a 
man  of  this  temperament,  showing  me,  as  it  daily  does, 
the  world  in  its  most  varied  confusion,  and  men  in  the 
craziest  fool's  caps  and  bells.  Both  wlien  reading  and 
writing,  my  attention  is  most  easily  disturbed.  I  know, 
indeed,  that  a  quick  imagination  is  the  salt  of  earthly 
life,  without  which  nature  is  but  a  skeleton  ;  but  the 
higher  the  gift,  the  greater  the  responsibility."  Pray 
and  work,  is  "  the  great  maxim  here,  too,  for  young  men 
and  for  old."  Another  time  he  writes  :  "  Nitzsch's  ser- 
mon upon  the  sanctification  of  the  imaginative  faculty 
has  deeply  impressed  me  ;  but  I  wish  tlie  language  had 
been  plainer.  Perhaps  few  have  had  such  bitter  con- 
tests as  I  to  subdue  wandering  thoughts,  and  gain  the 
power  of  continued  meditation  on  things  above.  This 
susceptibility  of  temperament  and  over-activity  of  im- 
agination, are  idiosyncrasies  over  which  flesh  and 
blood  cannot  prevail.  And,  besides,  from  my  early 
years,  my  calling  required  me  to  retain  in  my  memory 
an  innumerable  quantity  of  things  and  circumstances  ; 
but  now  I  cannot  recollect  anything  in  which  I  am  not 
interested  ;  all  these  things  moved  me  more  deeply  of 
yore.  Thus  it  is  that  a  million  different  things  now 
lie  garnered  up  in  my  semi-spiritual,  semi-material  or- 
ganism, rising  up,  God  knows  how,  seeming  to  possess 
an  independent  existence,  beyond  my  control,  and  dis- 


PERTHES'   DOMESTIC    AND   SOCIAL   LIFE.  477 

turbing  my  inward  composure  and  my  strivings  God- 
ward.  In  the  conflict  with  these  foes,  the  best  meth- 
od, according  to  my  experience,  is  an  unvarying  habit 
of  devoting  daily  a  certain  portion  of  time  to  the  con- 
templation of,  if  not  to  communion  with  God.  Mo- 
ments of  glowing  aspiration  and  occasional  attempts 
to  command  religious  emotions  will  not  do.  Thy 
grandfather  spoke  a  deep  and  important  truth  when 
he  said,  '  Fonamus,  that  thou  wert  on  a  mountain 
height,  at  break  of  day,  looking  at  the  sea  below,  from 
out  of  which  rose  the  sun,  and  that  thy  heart  being 
touched,  thine  impulse  was  to  fall  down  on  thy  face  ; 
why  fall,  with  or  without  tears,  and  do  not  feel  asham- 
ed of  it,  for  the  sun  is  a  glorious  work  of  the  Most  High, 
and  an  image  of  Him  before  whom  thou  canst  never 
bow  low  enough.  But  if  thou  be  not  moved,  and  must 
squeeze  hard  to  squeeze  out  a  tear,  why  let  it  alone, 
and  let  the  sun  rise  without  one.'  However,  one  must 
not  decide  hastily  for  others.^  Nature,  art,  and  the 
temperament  of  different  men  are  infinitely  varied,  and, 
consequently,  the  means  by  which  we  help  ourselves 
onward  must  needs  vary  too.'V 

While  Perthes  thus  expi  1  himself  to  one  friend, 
respecting  the  struggle  for  ^,  rial  composure  and  re- 
collection, he  endeavored  to  excite  a  differently  organ- 
ized nature  to  courageous  endurance  of  the  changes  of 
mood  brought  about  by  external  life.  •  To  a  young 
man,  who  seemed  inclined  to  take  trifles  as  well  as  sor- 
rows too  much  to  heart,  he  wrote  as  follows :  "  Go 
forward  with  hope  and  confidence  ;  this  is  the  advice 
given  thee  by  an  old  man  who  has  had  a  full  share  of 
the  burden  and  heat  of  life's  day.  We  must  ever 
stand  upright,  happen  what  may,  and  for  this  end  we 


478  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

must  clieerfull}^  resign  ourselves  to  the  varied  influences 
of  this  many-colored  life.  You  may  call  this  levity, 
and  you  are  partly  right ;  for  flowers  and  colors  are 
but  trifles  light  as  air,  but  such  levity  is  a  constituent 
portion  of  our  human  nature,  without  which  it  would 
sink  under  the  weight  of  time.  While  on  earth,  we 
must  still  play  with  earth,  and  with  that  which  blooms 
and  fades  upon  its  breast.  The  consciousness  of  this 
mortal  life  being  but  the  way  to  a  higher  goal,  by  no 
means,  precludes  our  playing  with  it  cheerfully  ;  and, 
indeed,  we  must  do  so,  otherwise  our  energy  in  action 
will  entirely  fail." 

However  varied  Perthes'  domestic  life  might  be  by 
visits  and  correspondence,  he  did  not  the  less  take 
great  pleasure  in  seeing  and  judging  for  himself  of  new 
places  and  new  circumstances.  In  1831  and  1834,  he 
spent  some  time  in  Berlin  ;  in  1835,  on  the  Rhine  ;  in 
1836,  in  Hamburgh  ;  in  1840,  in  Vienna,  in  all  these 
places  seeing  and  hearing  much  that  he  never  could 
have  clearly  understood  fuom  the  accounts  of  others. 
Even  in  his  latter  years,  he  constantly  wandered  with 
a  son  or  son-in-law  through  the  hills  and  valleys  of 
the  Thuringian  forest,  giving  himself  up,  as  soon  as  he 
had  left  the  town  behind  him,  to  the  delight  of  a  boy 
who  sees  the  world  for  the  first  time,  feeling  strength- 
ened and  improved  by  the  now  lovely,  now  grand 
views  that  this  mountain  range  abounds  in,  and  certain 
to  meet  with  some  singular  character,  or  some  strange 
adventure  to  interest  him. 

That  Perthes  was  able,  without  injury  to  his  charac- 
ter, to  respond  to  such  a  number  of  external  claims 
upon  his  attention  and  interest,  may  be  attributed  to 
his  life  being  so  firmly  rooted  in  his  home  and  family 


PERTHES'   DOMESTIC    AND    SOCIAL    LIFE.  479 

circle.  It  is  true,  this  family  spread  out  yearly  more 
and  more.  His  eldest  son  Matthias  had  been  a  pastor 
in  Moorburg  since  1830  ;  his  second  son,  Clement,  be- 
came in  1834  a  puplic  tutor  in  Bonn  ;  his  son  Andrew, 
after  a  preparatory  residence  in  Hamburgh,  Prague, 
Switzerland,  and  France,  had  become  a  partner  in  his 
father's  business.  All  these  sons  were  married.  His 
step-son  Henry,  for  whom  he  had  a  true  father's  affec- 
tion, left  the  Gymnasium  in  1838,  to  study  first  in 
Bonn,  and  then  in  Berlin. 

Perthes  had  always  encouraged  a  great  amount  of 
independence  of  manner  and  feeling  in  his  sons,  respect- 
ing their  personality  even  in  their  childhood.  When 
they  became  men,  he  entered  into  such  free  and  friend- 
ly relations  with  them,  that  on  each  side  the  very 
depths  of  the  heart  were  unreservedly  revealed. 
Public  and  private  events,  religious  and  political 
opinions,  formed  the  staple  of  the  unbroken  corres- 
pondence carried  on  between  father  and  sons.  Nor 
was  his  intercourse  with  his  children  settled  in  Gotha 
at  all  less  intimate.  Three  of  his  daughters  had  long 
been  established  there  ;  in  1831,  his  fourth  daughter 
married  Moritz  Madelung,  and  his  step-daughter 
Bertha,  Carl  von  Zeche.  None  of  these  daughters 
would  allow  many  days  to  pass  without  seeing  their 
fatlier  in  their  own  houses,  were  it  but  for  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,  and  few  weeks  went  by  in  which  the  whole 
family,  daughters  and  sons-in-law  alike,  did  not  spend 
one  evening  at  least  with  their  parents.  The  circum- 
stances of  these  different  families  were  indeed  widely 
varied,  but  in  spite  of  all  manner  of  obstacles,  they 
contrived  to  keep  up  the  animation  of  these  meetings. 
Even  after  a  hard  day's  work,  Perthes  would  enter  into 


480  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

a  spirited  conversation  with  youthful  ardor,  and  would 
unconsciously  excite  each  to  exert  to  the  utmost  the 
faculties  he  possessed  ;  indeed,  it  was  almost  impos- 
sible for  any  one  to  remain  supine  or  feel  weary  in  his 
society. 

Perthes  had  four  children  by  his  second  marriage, 
and  the  number  of  his  grandchildren  yearly  increased. 
In  so  large  a  circle  there  was,  of  course,  no  lack  of 
anxious  weeks  and  months,  of  sicknesses  and  deaths. 
The  sad  year  1831,  in  which  the  cholera  first  appeared 
in  Germany,  was  well  calculated  to  excite  alarm,  but 
it  did  not  disturb  Perthes'  composure,  though  two  of 
his  sons  were  living  where  it  raged  most  fiercely.  "  I 
am  convinced,"  wrote  he  in  the  June  of  that  year,  "  that 
if  natural  causes  do  not  stay  the  pestilence,  it  will  over- 
spread Europe,  and  that  all  attempts  to  fly  from  it  will 
be  vain.  It  is  not  my  nature  to  feel  any  great  dread 
of  falling  into  God's  hands,  but  I  am  horrified  at  the 
prospect  of  the  evils  that  selfish  precaution  may  inflict 
upon  our  social  relations.  Self-love  in  the  garb  of 
fear  is  something  terrific,  and  will  corrode  both  public 
and  private  life.  The  state  of  Europe  during  earlier 
pestilences  cannot  be  compared  with  Avhat  is  now  be- 
fore us,  when  all  are  so  intimately  and  closely  connect- 
ed and  narrowly  confined.     But  God  will  help  us!" 

No  member  of  his  large  family,  however,  was  struck 
down  by  the  epidemic,  but  sorrows  crowded  upon  them 
in  after  years,  especially  in  1833.  In  the  month  of 
June  Perthes  wrote  as  follows  :  "  Six  months  lie  behind 
me,  all  filled  with  fears  and  hopes.  Our  distresses  began 
about  Cliristmas  time.  I  have  often  remarked,  that  in 
cases  of  sudden  trouble,  families  gain  much  in  courage, 
endurance,  and  composure.      Each  is  sustained  by  a 


481 


consciousness  of  duty,  and  each  has  his  special  post. 
But  nature  fails  under  long-continued  pressure.  Sor- 
saw  loses  its  exciting,  energizing  influence  ;  it  exhausts, 
and  the  danger  is  lest  a  certain  passiveness  should  re- 
sult from  it,  which  is  not  strength  but  weakness,  not 
resignation  but  stupefaction.  Prayer,  and  nothing  but 
prayer,  is  the  one  and  only  remedy.  Wc  still  hold 
out  bravely,  and  I  am  still  able  to  bear  our  daily  trials 
patiently  and  submissively,  but  anxiety  about  my  wife, 
whose  burdens  are  almost  too  great  for  mind  and  body, 
perturbs  and  distresses  me.     God  will  help  us  on." 

Towards  the  end  of  July  low  fever  broke  out  in  the 
house,  attacking  not  only  five  children,  but  Perthes 
himself.  "  These  trying  weeks,"  he  wrote,  "  have  been 
to  me  a  season  of  new  and  important  experiences.  I 
have  been  quite  unequal  to  the  business  of  life,  but  the 
union  of  my  soul  with  God  has  remained  undisturbed 
by  the  pressure  of  sickness,  my  mind  is  quite  clear,  and 
I  can  express  my  thoughts  more  clearly  than  when  in 
health.  Nitzsch's  sermons  have  been  a  support  and  com- 
fort to  me.  I  have  got  over  the  difficulties  of  the  language, 
and  I  find  at  each  reading  new  treasures  in  the  mind 
of  this  man,  who  is  certainly  the  deepest  of  our  living 
theologians.  For  the  last  week  my  second  son  has 
been  with  us,  and  he  will  not  leave  till  matters  take 
one  turn  or  another.  I  daily  spend  hours  with  him 
alone,  and  I  have  endeavored  to  convey  my  views  sys- 
tematically to  him.  Our  conversation  has  chiefly  turn- 
ed upon  the  origin  of  things  in  general,  evil  included  ; 
the  wide  circle  within  which  man  is  free,  and  therefore 
responsible  ;  the  direction  of  the  world's  history  by 
God  ;  Jesus  Christ  the  centre  of  all  history  ;  material- 
ism and  pantheism,  political  and  ecclesiastical  order." 
21 


482  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Towards  the  end  of  August,  it  became  apparent  to 
Perthes  that  the  illness  of  his  only  son  by  his  second 
marriage  was  of  a  fatal  character.  He  had  been  more 
closely  knit  to  this  lovely  and  gifted  boy  than  to  any 
of  the  others  at  the  same  age.  When  his  elder  sons 
were  boys,  he  was  immersed  in  Hamburgh  business, 
and  could  but  seldom  occupy  himself  with  them.  But 
he  had  watched  this  child's  life  through  joy  and  sorrow^ 
alike  ;  even  when  at  his  occupations  he  used  to  have 
him  playing  by  him,  and  in  his  walks  he  made  him  his 
companion.  "  It  is  a  rare  bliss,"  he  once  wrote,  "  to 
be,  in  one^s  latter  years,  the  father  of  such  a  child.  A 
parent  of  my  age  contemplates  such  a  young  existence 
with  different  eyes  from  those  of  a  young  man  who  is 
himself  but  entering  into  life.  It  is  delightful  to  watch 
the  germ  of  love  and  sensibility,  and  very  striking  to 
see  that  the  nursery  is  a  little  world,  whose  daily  inci- 
dents require  and  cultivate  self-control  and  reflection, 
awaken  penetration,  and  even  the  sense  of  the  ludicrous." 

Accordingly,  when  this  beloved  child's  life-powers 
were  struggling  with  death,  Perthes  felt  as  keen  and 
deep  an  anguish  as  any  he  had  ever  before  known.  "  I 
prayed  with  my  whole  heart's  fervor,"  said  he,  "  that 
my  Rudolph  might  be  spared  to  me,  and  I  saw  that  I 
prayed  in  vain.  Faith  and  despair  struggled  within 
my  breast,  and  I  have  gained  a  deeper  understanding 
of  the  prayer,  '  Lead  us  not  into  temptation,'  than  I 
ever  had  before." 

On  the  evening  of  the  31st  August,  just  as  the  setting 
sun  reddened  the  sick-room,  the  child  died.  "  God  has 
taken  away  the  delight  of  my  age"  wrote  Perthes, 
"  but  he  has  given  me  tears  such  as  I  had  not  hoped  to 
weep  again.     You  wish  me  to  tell  you  much  about  my 


483 


Eudolph,  but  I  cannot  do  so.  To  a  third  person  all 
children  of  that  age  are  so  much  alike,  and  the  loss  of 
a  child  is  such  a  common  occurrence,  that  no  details 
could  give  a  clearer  insight  into  the  individual  case. 
Each  father  and  mother's  heart  knows  its  own  bitter- 
ness, and  no  third  person  can  enter  into  it." 

Later  he  wrote  to  Nicolovius  :  "  Since  the  death  of 
my  Rudolph,  I  begin  to  feel  the  evening  of  life  closing 
in,  not  because  of  any  diminution  of  bodily  or  mental 
powers,  but  because  of  a  certain  indijfference  to  human 
pursuits  and  interests.  But  God  will  uphold  me  with 
His  love  and  truth,  so  that  I  may  not  grow  supine  and 
incapable  cheerfully  to  do  and  bear  according  to  His 
good  pleasure."  Incapable  or  gloomy  Perthes  indeed 
never  became,  but  the  yearning  for  his  lost  child 
haunted  him  as  long  as  he  lived,  often  forcing  from 
him,  as  he  paced  the  room  alone,  even  after  years  were 
past  and  gone,  the  cry,  "  My  Rudolph,  my  Rudolph, 
where  and  what  art  thou  now  ! " 

Many  an  hour,  too,  of  inward  conflict  besides,  had 
Perthes  during  these  years.  We  find  him  writing  : 
"  How  far  beneath  our  wishes  and  our  will  are  the 
works  and  ways  even  of  the  old  amongst  us !  Love 
without  work,  and  work  without  love.  How  cold 
and  weak  our  sorrow  for  sin  seems,  and  yet,  perhaps, 
God  sees  more  in  it  than  we  do,  and  knows  how  deep 
and  strong  and  abiding  a  sinner's  repentance  really 
is." 

Another  letter  runs  thus  :  "  *  Be  ye  holy  even  as  I 
am  holy.  These  words  often  pierce  me  through  mar- 
row and  bone.  1  have  known  many  who  have  experi- 
enced in  themselves  the  immediate  working  of  the 
Spirit,  and  who  believed  that  they  had  been  made  holy 


484  CAROLIXB    PERTHES. 

by  it.  That  there  may  be  such  saints  even  in  our 
days,  I  will  not  dispute,  but  I  do  not  belong  to  their 
number.  I  have  striven  and  wrestled,  but  the  w^orld 
and  the  flesh  have  hindered  me.  Only  for  moments 
have  I,  in  and  through  prayer,  tasted  of  the  peace  of 
God.  Not  to  shut  our  eyes  through  indolence  or  de- 
spondency to  the  sin  remaining  in  us,  not  to  mistake 
death  for  life,  sorrow  for  repentance,  and  imagination 
for  love,  not  to  grow  weary  in  our  upward  course,  or 
to  substitute  wishing  for  willing  ;  this  is  our  ceaseless 
task  here  below,  a  task  impossible  without  faith,  but 
without  which  faith  is  impossible  too." 

Whenever  his  heart  was  heavy,  Perthes  would  turn 
by  preference  to  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  He  once 
wrote,  "  Look  for  comfort  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Romans  ;  in  it  is  the  whole  truth  of  God  in  as  far  as 
we  need  to  know  it  here  on  earth.  Fight  the  good 
fight  to  the  end,  this  is  Paul's  teaching  to  you,  as  well 
as  mine." 

In  another  he  says  :  "  I  have  often,  very  often,  read 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  ;  it  is  the  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture which  has  most  impressed  me,  has  given  me  most 
light,  and  most  stablished  my  faith.  Should  another 
prefer  some  other  portion,  that  need  be  no  matter  of 
dispute  :  it  is  a  proof  of  the  divinity  of  the  Bible, 
that  different  books  affect  different  Christians  most,  ac- 
cording to  their  difference  of  temperament  and  educa- 
tion, while  yet  all  books  lead  to  the  same  end." 

Not  only  was  Perthes  inclined  by  natural  character 
firmly  and  fervently  to  express  his  convictions,  but  he 
believed  it  his  duty  so  to  do.  "  We  should  give  honor 
to  the  truth,"  said  he  ;  "  we  should  not  suffer  others  to 
seem  to  despise  it ;    we  should  not  practise  a  false 


LIFE.  485 

tolei-ation,  but  shun  all  intimacy  with  those  who  do 
not  acknowledge  it." 

It  is  true,  that  even  in  these  his  latter  years  he  was 
often  wont  to  be  more  vehement  and  sharp  in  his  tone 
of  controversy  than  his  conscience  approved,  and  he 
was  well  aware  that  he  had  thus  offended  and  tempo- 
rarily estranged  many. 

"  I  feel,"  said  he,  on  one  occasion,  "  that  I  must  be 
very  careful  as  to  what  I  speak  or  write  about  Church 
or  State,  lest  I  be  misunderstood,  and  injure  both  my- 
self and  my  cause.  It  must  be  in  some  measure  my 
own  fault  that  you  should  believe  that  I  wear  a  pair 
of  eye-blinders,  so  as  not  to  be  disturbed  in  my  con- 
victions by  what  lies  on  the  right  and  left  of  my  path. 
Not  so  ;  I  have  sliarp  eyes  for  what  is  not  good  and 
true  in  matters  that  I  deem  essential.  I  see  things 
plainly,  and  like  to  see  them  so,  even  when  they  do  not 
fit  in  to  my  views,  but  I  do  not  allow  my  positive  ten- 
dencies to  be  disturbed  by  them.  He  who  knows  what 
he  wants,  and  determines  to  accomplish  it,  be  it  in 
small  or  great  matters,  cannot  afford  to  weigh  every- 
thing so  closely  as  to  darken  it  by  his  criticism,  and 
bring  into  prominence  every  weak  point ;  this  would 
but  lead  to  a  habit  of  scepticism,  and  where  that  exists 
there  i-s  an  end  to  all  action.  I  know,  indeed,  that  in 
this  great  world-drama,  the  doubters  and  deniers  have 
their  part  to  play,  and  do  not  all  belong  to  the  great 
club-footed  denier,  but  to  the  children  of  God,  though 
not  to  the  active  workers  among  these.  However,  my 
province  is  to  affirm  and  establish.  I  will  wrestle  with 
evil  when  it  comes  in  my  way,  but  neither  in  great 
things  nor  small,  politics  nor  religion,  doing,  thinking, 
nor  feeling,  will  I  consent  to  the  overthrow  of  God's 


486  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

Church,  because  the  devil  has  built  or  may  build  a 
side-chapel  of  his  own  against  it." 

However  earnestly  Perthes  may  have  held  and  as- 
serted tliat  witliout  ecclesiastical  and  dogmatic  author- 
ity neitlier  theology  nor  Christian  feeling  could  hold 
their  ground,  still  his  own  individual  life  was  very  in- 
dependent of  both.  "  My  Christianity,"  he  once  wrote, 
*'  becomes  each  year  more  simple.  That  not  to  love 
God  is  sin,  and  that  to  love  Him  again  constitutes  de- 
liverance from  sin  ;  this  as  infinite  truth,  this  as  the 
solution  of  every  problem,  has  been  transmitted  from 
the  Bible  to  my  spiritual  life.  Christianity  is  thor- 
oughly practical  in  its  nature.  Scientific  inquiries  and 
absorption  of  the  soul  in  religious  emotion,  are  of 
themselves  little  worth.  I  learn  more  and  more  to 
discern  the  Divine  wisdom,  which  has  set  limits  to 
revelation  ;  all  that  we  need  for  our  happiness  is  given 
us,  and  were  the  curtain  lifted  further  from  holy  mys- 
teries, man's  utter  bewilderment  would  be  hopeless." 


XLI. 

Ut  l^^t^.— 1837-43. 


FTER  a  severe  attack  of  influenza  in  1837, 
Perthes  took  a  small  house  at  Friedrichroda, 
about  nine  miles  from  Gotha,  in  order,  with 
his  wife  and  children,  to  spend  the  summer  in 
the  woods.  "  You  see,  my  dear  friend,"  wrote 
he  in  July,  "  that  I  have  fled  to  the  moun- 
tains to  drive  away  the  consequences  of  influ- 
enza. My  hearing  is  still  much  affected,  and  I  have 
difficulty  in  making  out  human  babble,  but  I  hope  to 
be  able  to  hear  the  vulture  scream  and  the  trout  splash. 
If  anything  can  restore  my  health,  it  will  be  life  in  the 
woods.  You  know  Friedrichroda,  so  I  need  not  speak 
of  its  charms.  Everything  is  in  our  favor, — the  sky 
blue,  the  woods  dark,  the  meadows  green." 

It  was  indeed  a  lovely  spot  that  Perthes  had  chosen. 
On  the  north  side  of  the  Thuringian  forest,  a  long 
valley  runs  down  into  the  plain,  at  the  entrance  of 
which  lies  Schnepfenthal.  Half  a  league  further  up 
the  valley  you  encounter  numerous  mountain  tarns, 
along  which  there  is  just  room  for  the  road  to  wind 
beneath  the  shadow  of  the  fine  old  firs.  Higher  up, 
the  valley  widens  out  till  you  come  to  meadows  of  the 
brightest  green,  in  the  midst  of  which  stood  in  earlier 
days  the  old  Benedictine  cloister  of  Reinhardsbrunnen, 

(487) 


488  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

now  replaced  by  the  castle  of  the  Dukes  of  Coburg- 
Grotha.  Other  wildly  beautiful  valleys  run  down  from 
the  hills  into  that  of  Reinhardsbrunnen,  while  rocky 
ridges,  clothed  with  noble  beech  and  fir,  and  bold 
mountain  peaks,  offer  an  abundance  of  fine  views. 
Divided  from  this  valley  by  a  low  ridge  stands,  in  a 
wooded  basin,  tlie  little  village  of  Friedrichroda,  and 
at  about  a  hundred  yards  from  it,  the  house  Perthes 
had  chosen.  Being  built  in  a  hollow,  the  front  rooms 
looked  out  upon  a  new  blank  wall,  and  he  had  to  bear 
many  a  joke  about  the  situation  he  had  chosen  ;  from 
the  back  and  from  the  little  garden,  however,  there 
was  really  a  glorious  view,  and  the  Black  Forest,  with 
its  shade,  its  solitude,  and  countless  footpaths,  was 
within  a  few  steps  of  the  house.  A  few  years  after 
Perthes'  death,  Friedrichroda  became  a  much  frequented 
place,  but  at  the  time  we  speak  of,  the  country  retained 
its  lonely  character,  and  you  might  have  wandered  half 
a  day  in  the  wood-paths,  and  met  only  a  herd  of  timid 
deer,  a  forester,  children  in  search  of  strawberries,  or 
women  in  search  of  firewood,  while  nothing  was  to  be 
heard  but  the  woodman's  axe  or  the  herdsman's  horn. 
In  the  evening,  numbers  of  wild  deer  were  in  the  habit 
of  gathering  in  the  meadows. 

From  1 837  it  became  Perthes'  custom  to  spend  every 
summer  at  Friedrichroda,  and  each  year  he  loved  it 
better.  In  the  morning,  after  his  hard  work,  he  used 
to  take  a  short  solitary  walk,  and  in  the  evenings,  two, 
three,  nay,  sometimes  four  hours'  rambles  with  his  wife 
and  his  three  little  girls.  It  was  his  constant  delight 
to  find  out  new  points  of  view,  and  when  found,  to 
show  them  to  others  ;  and  he  had  abundant  opportu- 
nity of  doing  this.     On  Saturdays  and  Sundays  the 


LAST   YEARS.  489 

house  was  all  alive,  grandchildren,  daughters,  sons-in- 
law  came,  till  the  rooms  were  too  small  to  contain 
them,  and  kitchen  and  cellars  were  put  to  strange 
shifts  ;  and  often  Perthes  was  the  youngest  of  the 
party  in  spirits  and  enjoyment.  His  sons,  too,  gener- 
ally came  from  a  distance  to  spend  some  weeks  with 
him  ;  and  even  of  historians  and  theologians  there  was 
no  lack. 

Tholuck,  Liicke,  Marheineke,  de  Wette  and  Olshau- 
sen  were  his  guests  ;  and  of  all  those  who  visited  Per- 
thes in  Friedrichroda,  however  different  their  charac- 
ter or  callings  might  be,  there  was  not  one  who  did 
not  carry  away  with  him  the  recollection  of  some 
pleasant  and  interesting  hours.  It  is  true,  that  he  who 
was  without  a  sense  of  natural  beauty  had  but  a  poor 
reception  ;  for  Perthes  looked  upon  him  with  wonder 
and  pity,  much  as  if  he  had  been  born  deaf  and  dumb, 
or  without  arms  and  legs.  Any  under-rating  of  the 
special  beauties  of  Friedrichroda  he  took  almost  as  a 
personal  offence,  and  treated  it  accordingly.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  visitor  who  had  an  eye  for  wood 
and  liill  was  comfortably  housed,  and  Perthes  led  him 
here  and  there,  to  show  him  the  beauty  of  the  district 
in  the  best  light. 

It  was  a  perfect  marvel  to  the  country  people,  why 
an  old  gentleman,  who  had  neither  to  burn  charcoal 
nor  to  prepare  tar,  persisted  in  threading  the  long  and 
toilsome  paths  their  day's  work  led  them  to  traverse  ; 
but  they  all  liked  him,  and  knew  that  he  had  a  heart 
for  their  joys  and  sorrows. 

The  oftener  he  returned  to  Friedrichroda  the  fonder 
they  grew  of  him  ;  and  to  prove  this,  they,  in  1841,  gave 
him  the  freedom  of  their  little  town,  with  which  lie 
21* 


490  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

reported  himself  more  pleased  than  with  any  honor 
ever  before  conferred  upon  him.  Many  such  tokens 
of  respect  had  attended  Perthes  in  his  later  years.  In 
1834,  the  inhabitants  of  Leipzig  had  made  him  free  of 
their  city,  and  in  the  summer  of  1835,  the  Prince  Re- 
gent of  Saxony  had  given  him  the  cross  of  the  civil 
order  of  merit. 

"  I  would  gladly  possess  civil  merit  as  far  as  Ger- 
many is  concerned,"  wrote  Perthes,  "  and  I  like  to  be 
done  honor  to  by  such  a  prince  as  this.  In  former 
years  I  once  sat  next  to  him  at  dinner,  and  he  spoke 
very  intelligently  about  literature  and  the  book-trade, 
the  Hamburgh  government,  the  July  revolution,  &g.  j 
but  what  most  surprised  and  pleased  me  was,  his  spon- 
taneous, benevolent  sympathy  and  respect  for  the 
social  condition  of  all  grades  alike,  combined,  as  his 
sentiments  were,  with  a  full  consciousness  of  rank.  It 
is  only  he  who  honors  men  for  their  humanity,  who  thus 
reverences  every  position  and  calling.  Such  a  state 
of  mind  as  this  implies  genuine  cultivation,  which  I 
would  distinguish  from  what  is  merely  learned  and 
fashionable  ;  for  all  ranks  alike  may  possess  it,  and  it 
does  not  come  more  easily  to  high  than  to  low.  Wit, 
information,  penetration,  birth,  station,  all  oppress  and 
alienate  those  who  are  deficient  in  these  respects,  but 
this  cultivation  makes  all  who  come  in  contact  with  it 
free,  and  excites  esteem  and  confidence.  What  a 
change  has  taken  place  in  this  respect  during  the  last 
fifty  years  !  God  grant  that  our  nature,  having  learned 
to  esteem  every  human  condition,  may  not  now  run 
into  the  extreme  of  despising  the  difference  between 
one  condition  and  another." 

In  1840  the  university  of  Kiel  conferre  1  upon  Per- 


LAST   YEARS.  491 

thes  tlie  order  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy.  "  I  could 
not,"  /'rote  he,  '*  have  marvelled  more  at  this  honor 
done  me  if  I  had  been  Vladica  of  Montenegro.  The 
learned  company  has  not,  for  a  long  time,  seen  such  a 
bungler  as  I  in  their  midst ;  my  Latin  is  as  rusty  as 
that  of  my  Orfort  colleague  Dr.  Blucher,  and  that  is 
saying  much.'' 

A  friend,  however,  remarks  in  a  letter  to  Perthes  : 
"  The  faculty  has  done  well  ;  he  who  has  practised 
wisdom  throughout  a  long  career  may  well  be  styled 
Doctor  of  Philosophy  even  though  his  Latin  be  rusty." 

Another  honor  enjoyed  by  Perthes,  during  his  latter 
years,  was  the  kindness  shown  him  by  the  ducal  house 
of  Coburg.  In  1826,  on  the  Duke  of  Coburg's  acces- 
sion to  Gotha,  Perthes  had  written  as  follows :  "  My 
monarchical  principles  have  gained  many  new  adhe- 
rents ;  for  all  fall  suddenly  down  before  the  new 
prince  :  certainly  he,  like  Saul,  is  head  and  shoulders 
taller  than  tlie  rest  of  the  people,  full  of  princely  dig- 
nity, very  judicious,  and  consequently  very  popular. 
He  knows  and  is  interested  in  every  subject ;  in  short, 
the  whole  world  is  bewitched  with  him,  and  men  of  all 
parties  have  suddenly  become  ducalized." 

The  great  wisdom  and  experience  of  the  Duke,  as 
we  have  seen,  interested  Perthes,  and  his  benevolence 
won  him  entirely.  On  his  side,  the  Duke  was  very 
partial  to  Perthes,  and  always  saw  him  when  at  Gotha 
or  Reinhardsbrunnen.  The  forest  and  its  inhabitants, 
recollections  reaching  back  as  far  as  1806,  as  well  as 
the  political  events  of  ihe  day,  formed  the  subject  of 
their  conversations.  But  Perthes'  peculiar  delight  was 
in  the  young  princes.  It  was  in  1836,  wher^  the  Co- 
burg Princes  came  tQ  Gqtha,  in  order  to  conclude  thp 


492  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

marriage  of  the  Prince  Ferdinand  Augustus  with  the 
Queen  of  Portugal,  that  he  saw  them  first.  In  the 
January  of  that  year  lie  writes  :  "  A  few  days  ago  I 
was  dining  with  the  old  Duchess  ;  both  the  princes 
were  there — fine,  tall,  handsome  youths,  fresh,  healthy 
and  full  of  spirits,  to  which  they  gave  free  scope  as 
soon  as  they  were  out  of  their  grandmother's  sight. 
Prince  Ferdinand,  the  future  King  of  Portugal,  has  a 
noble  profile,  but  he  is  still  a  thorough  child  :  the  poor 
slender  fir-tree  has  to  be  transplanted  to  a  hot  soil ; 
perhaps  his  very  childishness  is  in  his  favor." 

In  1839  Perthes  writes  :  *'  Late  in  the  summer,  the 
ducal  household  came  to  Reinhardsbrunnen,  and  with 
them  the  Crown  Prhice  from  Dresden,  and  Prince  Al- 
bert from  Italy.  Their  father  has  good  reason  to  be 
proud  of  them  both.  The  ardor,  frankness,  and  healthy 
judgment  of  the  Crown  Prince  delighted  me  uncom- 
monly ;  Prince  Albert  is,  without  doubt,  a  highly 
gifted  and  thoroughly  cultivated  young  man  ;  hand- 
some and  elegant,  courteous  and  benevolent.  His 
thoughtful,  cautious  temperament  will  lessen  the  diffi- 
culties of  his  position.  We  have  the  Duke  of  Mein- 
ingen,  too,  and  the  King  of  Saxony  ;  and  sometimes 
no  fewer  than  fourteen  princes  go  out  hunting  togeth- 
er. These  meetings  between  the  house  of  Saxony  and 
the  neighboring  princes  should  oftener  take  place. 
Taken  together,  they  are  not  without  significance  in 
German  relations,  and  these  wise,  restless  Coburgs 
will  tell  upon  Europe  too  :  they  do  not,  indeed,  form 
any  very  comprehensive  plans-,  but  they  know,  as  few 
men  and  princes  do,  how  to  seize  the  passing  oppor- 
tunity, and  use  the  present  moment.  They  have  al- 
ready secured  the  thrones  of  England,  Belgium,  and 


LAST   YEARS.  493 

Portugal  for  their  own  house,  and  they  have  an  eye  on 
those  of  Spain  and  France  as  well." 

In  1840  we  find  Perthes  writing:  "The  winter 
months  of  this  year  have  been  made  interesting  and 
exciting  by  the  chapter  of  history  which  has  been 
enacted  here  ;  for,  at  the  approach  of  the  English 
wedding,  the  Ducal  Papa  bound  the  garter  round  his 
boy's  knee  amidst  the  roar  of  a  hundred  and  one  can- 
non. The  earnestness  and  gravity  with  which  the 
Prince  has  obeyed  this  early  call  to  take  a  European 
position  give  him  dignity  and  standing  in  spite  of  his 
youth,  and  increase  the  charm  of  his  whole  aspect. 
Queen  Victoria  will  find  him  the  right  sort  of  man  ; 
and  unless  some  unlucky  fatality  interpose,  he  is  sure 
to  become  the  idol  of  the  English  nation,  silently  to 
influence  the  English  aristoracy,  and  deeply  to  affect 
the  destinies  of  Europe.  Perhaps  I  may  live  to  see 
the  beginning  of  this  career."  "  As  for  your  Prince 
Albert,"  writes  a  friend  to  Perthes  in  the  Autumn  of 
1840,  "  I  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  you  right- 
ly appreciate  him  and  his  position  in  England.  Still 
he  can  attain  to  a  knowledge  of  things  around  him,  and 
his  relation  to  them,  only  after  a  long  residence.  The 
public  seem  well  affected  towards  him,  and  in  the 
higher  circles  he  has  already  some  influence  ;  but  in 
order  to  influence  politics,  he  must  be  older  and  more 
free  to  act."  Another  friend  writes  :  ''  I  have  not 
seen  the  Prince  during  my  stay  in  London,  but  I  have 
heard  much  of  him  ;  he  seems  to  be  universally  be- 
loved, and  I  have  been  often  most  courteously  thanked 
by  Englishmen  for  tlie  noble  return  wliich  Germany 
has  made  to  England  for  the  Duke  of  Cumberland." 

Once  only  in  these  latter  years  did  Perthes  deter- 


494  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

mine  upon  a  prolonged  absence  from  home.  In  July, 
1834,  he  with  his  wife  and  his  three  little  girls  went 
through  Coburg  and  Nuremburg  to  Ratisbon,  thence 
by  the  Danube  to  Vienna,  where  he  spent  a  month 
with  his  friend  Hornbostel.  "  Here  I  have  been  for 
some  weeks,"  wrote  he,  "  and  I  have  seen  and  heard 
much  very  diJQferent  to  what  I  heard  and  saw  four-and- 
twenty  years  ago.  All  my  old  acquaintances  are 
dead.  Hammer  was  absent.  Pilat  was  the  only  one 
left,  and  I  spent  some  hours  with  him.  With  this  ex- 
ception, I  met  only  mercantile  men,  but  many  of  them 
were  influential  and  very  well  informed.  My  high 
opinion  of  Austria's  internal  strength  is  by  no  means 
diminished  by  the  peculiar  view  this  visit  has  afforded 
me.  The  life,  the  intelligence,  the  varied  information, 
and,  above  all,  the  faculty  of  enjoying  life  that  I  have 
here  found,  have  amazed  me.  It  is  true  that  intellect 
and  knowledge  are  almost  exclusively  directed  to  ma- 
chinery and  looms,  to  trade  and  manufacture  ;  both 
the  Church  and  the  priesthood  have  become  mechani- 
cal, and  Protestantism  is  cold  and  dead.  There  is,  in- 
deed, a  danger  in  this  one-sided  industrial  tendency 
which  the  government  so  unqualifiedly  favors,  but  the 
decomposing  process  going  on  in  the  spiritual  life  of 
the  rest  of  Germany  does  not  obtain  at  all  in  Austria, 
or  only  amongst  the  higher  aristocracy.  If  great 
events  occur — and  indeed  they  cannot  be  long  post- 
poned— and  men  be  thrown  out  of  their  present  mate- 
rial direction,  the  fresh  energies  and  natural  ability 
of  the  German  Austrians  will  soon  develop  themselves. 
The  presumptuous  fools  in  North  Germany,  who  speak 
of  the  Austrian  barbarians  and  the  decayed  empire, 
have  no  idea  in  their  plains  of  the  strength  which  ex- 


i 


LAST   YEARS.  495 

ists  behind  the  mountains — do  not  dream  that  the  lit- 
erary exhaustion  of  North  Germany  will  probably  be 
obliged,  in  the  next  generation,  to  draw  life  from  the 
South." 

"  If  people  determine  to  call  Austria  a  despotism," 
wrote  Perthes  again,  "  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  is 
one  of  a  singular  kind,  the  pressure  being  all  upwards, 
not  downwards.  Perhaps  in  no  other  state  in  the 
world  is  the  internal  government  so  moulded  and 
guided  by  ancient  customs  and  institutions  which  have 
their  origin  in  popular  life.  Restrictions  and  limita- 
tions of  all  sorts  to  which  the  Austrians  have  been  long 
accustomed,  and  which  they  have  therefore  learnt  to 
bear,  they  easily  endure  ;  but  it  is  almost  impossible 
for  government  to  introduce  any  innovations,  because 
an  unexpressed  but  universal  opposition  of  rich  and 
poor,  high  and  low,  is  at  once  raised  against  it. 
A  number  of  jocular  stories  are  circulated,  in  which 
the  fruitless  attempts  of  the  government  are  ridiculed. 
A  short  time  ago  a  peremptory  edict  against  pigeons 
flying  about  in  Vienna  was  issued.  *  Are  the  imperial 
pigeons  to  be  caged  as  well  ?'  asked  their  keeper. 
*  For  a  day  or  two,'  was  the  reply  ;  '  if  every  one  else 
lets  their  pigeons  loose,  we  shall  do  the  same.'  " 

"  I  have  made  the  acquaintance,"  says  Perthes  in 
another  letter,  "  of  a  very  remarkable  man,  the  Cathe- 
dral preacher  Yeith.  He  was  formerly  Director  of 
the  Veterinary  College  in  Vienna,  then  he  became  a 
priest,  and  now  he  is  a  preacher  in  the  Cathedral.  I 
heard  him  twice  in  a  crowded  church.  His  sermons 
were  full  of  geniality  and  practical  experience,  mixed 
up  with  natural  science  and  historical  narrative,  and 
highly  exciting.     A  friend  brought  me  to  him  in  the 


496  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

vestry,  and  he  proved  himself  perfectly  acquainted 
with  our  Protestant  theology  in  general,  and  with 
Schleiermacher,  Rudelbach,  Julius  Miiller,  and  Tholuck 
in  particular,  expressing  himself  with  perfect  unre- 
serve about  the  Catholic  Church  and  its  condition  in 
Austria.  I  have  read  his  Woman  of  Samaria,  and 
gained  from  it  many  new  views,  and  in  so  far  as  it 
does  not  treat  of  specially  ecclesiastical  subjects,  there 
is  hardly  anything  in  it  that  Protestants  need  object 
to.  In  short,  this  man  is  a  most  striking  character, 
and  a  matter  of  wonder  to  such  as  are  not  Catholics," 

From  Vienna  Perthes,  accompanied  by  his  family, 
travelled  through  Ischl,  Salzburg,  Berchtesgarden,  and 
Ratisbon,  back  to  Gotha,  which  they  reached  after  a 
two  months'  absence.  "  We  have  not  had  an  ailment," 
wrote  he,  "  not  an  accident,  not  a  moment's  anxiety 
nor  a  single  day's  bad  weather.  Yesterday,  when  I 
got  out  of  the  carriage  in  perfect  health,  and  found 
all  the  members  of  my  large  family  the  same,  I  most 
heartily  thanked  God.  The  prospect  of  the  journey 
had  rather  weighed  upon  me,  for  though  I  still  feel 
strong,  I  have  lost  the  feeling  of  security  in  taking  a 
long  journey,  which  I  once  possessed.  On  his  return 
to  Gotha,  Perthes  not  only  found  his  son  come  from 
Bonn  with  his  wife  and  family,  but  a  mass  of  business 
which  had  accumulated  during  his  absence  ;  while  the 
meeting  of  philologists  in  September  brought  with 
it  all  manner  of  further  excitement." 

In  one  letter  he  says,  "  Two  very  dear  friends  are  in 
my  house,  Ritter  from  Gottingen,  and  Nitzsch  from 
Kiel ;  Lachmann  is  with  me  at  my  son-in-law's,  and  we 
have  many  an  animated,  and,  indeed,  comic  liour  when 
the  whole  learned  body  meets  for  business  or  play.     It 


LAST   YEARS.  497 

was  an  amusing  spectacle  to  witness  twelve  postilions 
blowing  away  on  their  horns,  and  riding  in  advance  of 
the  three  hundred  school-masters,  while  we  followed  in 
a  long  procession  of  hired  carriages  to  Eeinhardsbrun- 
nen,  there  to  dine  at  the  Ducal  table." 

A  few  weeks  later  he  wrote:  "  This  has  been  a  memor- 
able year,  the  birth  of  four  grandchildren,  hard  work  in 
Leipzig,  the  marriage  of  my  son  Andrew,  the  visit  of  my 
dear  brother  Jacobi  from  Siegburg,  with  his  wife  and 
children,  the  two  months'  journey  to  Vienna,  the  very 
hard  work  after  my  return,  and  then  the  philologists — 
my  old  bones  creak  again." 

After  his  return  from  Yienna,  Perthes  would  never 
again  hear  of  a  long  absence  from  home.  "I  shall 
take  no  journey  till  the  last  of  all,"  said  he,  in  1841,  in 
answer  to  a  pressing  invitation  from  liis  son.  "  Strength 
and  inclination  for  it  I  still  have,  but  cliange  and  ex- 
citement do  harm  to  one  of  the  advanced  age  you  can 
now  no  longer  dispute  my  claim  to  ;  external  quiet, 
tliat  is,  an  unbroken  routine  being  the  right  thing  for 
body  and  mind.  Other  old  men  miglit  be  able  to 
travel  more  comfortably,  but  owing  to  my  temperament, 
every  journey  excites  me,  and  a  thousand  things  in  suc- 
cession would  distract  my  mind.  Only  think  of  the 
number  of  men  I  should  have  to  see,  and  how  much  I 
should  have  to  hear  and  say !  Why,  one  week's  stay 
with  you  would  involve  at  least  six  months'  hard 
work." 

In  proportion  as  the  pleasure  that  Perthes  took  in 
travelling  diminished,  his  love  for  his  neighboring 
mountain-retreat  increased.  But  still  he  refused  to 
buy  a  house  in  Friedrichroda.  "  I  have  never,"  said 
he,  "  had  any  other  landed  property  than  my  travelling 


498  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

carriage  and  my  corner  in  the  churchyard  ;  and  just 
before  the  order  to  march  comes,  I  do  not  want  to  bind 
myself  down  to  any  earthly  spot." 

However,  he  increased  his  accommodation  and  liis 
comforts,  and  in  the  summer  of  1841,  we  find  liim 
writing,  "  I  have  by  my  addition  gained  a  most  glori- 
ous view  in  several  directions,  and  it  was  just  made  in 
time,  for  the  elements  are  raging  this  year.  The  storm 
roars  in  tlie  wood,  and  the  trees  creak  and  groan  ;  the 
mornings  are  very  cold,  and  the  mountain-mists  reach 
our  windows.  We  make  as  much  use  as  we  can  of  the 
fine  hours  of  the  day,  but  I  do  not  climb  so  high  nor 
ramble  so  far  as  of  yore,  preferring  the  familiar  paths, 
where  I  can  live  my  inner  life  undisturbed,  as  becomes 
a  man  of  seventy,  who  will  not  much  longer  see  and 
feel  the  beauty  of  this  earth, '^ 

However,  Friedrichroda  did  not  lack  excitement  in 
the  summer  of  1841,  for  a  brilliant  circle  again  assem- 
bled at  Reinhardsbrunnen.  "  The  quiet  woods,"  wrote 
Perthes,  "  have  become  unquiet ;  we  have  the  Duchess 
of  Kent  here.  Prince  William  of  Prussia,  with  his 
family,  and  many  others.  Adjutants,  jockeys,  negroes, 
lords,  dogs,  horses,  pass  our  little  house  day  and  night ; 
hills  and  dales,  woods  and  rocks,  are  scoured  in  the 
chase,  and  my  poor  deer  have  a  sad  time  of  it.  I  once 
saw  the  Duchess  of  Kent  alone  with  her  brother,  the 
Duke,  who  called  me  to  him,  and  I  sincerely  rejoiced 
at  their  happy  meeting." 

Soon  after  Perthes  wrote  :  "  How  strange  it  seems 
to  me,  in  the  midst  of  all  this  tumult,  to  look  back 
upon  my  past  life !  Half  a  century  ago  I  was  an 
orphan,  cast  in  extreme  poverty  into  the  world's  whirl- 
pool, without  information,  without  help,  without  sup- 


LAST   YEARS.  499 

port,  a  forsaken  apprentice  in  a  cold  garret,  having  to 
limp  about  for  weeks  on  frozen  feet,  because  no  one 
attended  to  me  but  my  poor  and  still  dear  Frederika. 
All  this  lies  like  a  dream  behind  me,  now  that  I  am  at 
my  journey's  end ;  my  life  has  not  been  an  easy,  nay, 
often  a  painful  one.  To  God  be  the  praise  that  it  ends 
well !" 

Active  and  cheerful  as  he  still  was,  Perthes  now 
began  to  feel  in  different  ways  the  approach  of  old 
age.  He  was  often  himself  surprised  at  the  length 
of  days  he  had  left  behind  him,  when  any  circumstance 
reminded  him  that  he  had  known  this  or  that  aged 
man  as  a  child  or  a  youth.  He  once  wrote  to  Ullmann  : 
"There  are  four  men  in  Southern  Germany  whom  I 
used  to  know  in  olden  times ;  of  late,  however,  I  have 
never  seen  them  :  Rau,  of  whom  I  still  retain  an 
agreeable  though  indistinct  impression  ;  Schubert  and 
Schwab,  whom  I  last  saw  between  thirty  and  five-and- 
thirty  years  ago ;  and  Schelling,  whom  I  met  forty-two 
years  ago,  and  with  whom  I  have  since  maintained  a 
friendly  correspondence."  Perthes  was,  however,  des- 
tined to  meet  the  last-mentioned  of  these  men  once 
again.  In  the  autumn  of  1841,  he  Avrites  :  "  Schelling 
has  been  here.  We  had  not  seen  each  other  since 
1798.  The  slender,  black-haired  Swabian  youth  stood 
before  me  as  a  robust  old  man,  with  snow-white  head, 
but  just  as  cordially  frank  and  plain-spoken  as  of  yore. 
We  talked  over  all  our  old  experiences  and  our  present 
feelings,  and  did  not  know  how  to  part." 

But  there  were  other  things  besides  his  friend's  white 
hair,  w^iich  served  to  remind  Perthes  of  the  evening 
of  life.  Many  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude,  to  whose 
light  he  had  been  accustomed  from  his  youth,  went  out 


500  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

one  after  another.  Niebuhr  died  in  1831  ;  Goethe  in 
1832  ;  Schleiermacher  in  1834.  Many  dear  friends 
and  relations,  too,  were  called  away,  whom  Perthes 
missed  and  mourned.  In  1839  he  wrote:  "I  have 
again  lost  one  I  loved  and  honored,  my  faithful  old 
Nicolovius  :  would  that  I  could  have  pressed  his  hand 
once  more  here  below." 

In  a  letter  to  Umbreit,  dated  1840,  he  says  :  "  If  at 
the  age  of  seventy  I  needed  a  warning,  the  departure 
of  so  many  old  friends  might  afford  me  one.  Thibaut 
is  now  gone,  a  man  I  cordially  loved  and  respected, 
and  who  was  much  attached  to  me.  However,  one  can 
think  of  him  with  joy  as  well  as  sorrow  ;  no  doubt, 
like  the  rest  of  us,  he  had  his  own  struggles,  but  still 
he  was  a  happy  man,  his  being  was  a  liarmonious  one, 
and  despite  his  vigorous  participation  in  the  progress 
of  science,  his  spiritual  life  flowed  on  in  tranquillity." 
Poel  had  died  in  the  autumn  of  18H7.  To  him  Perthes 
had  long  been  indebted  for  much  intellectual  stimulus 
and  much  information,  though  they  differed  materially 
both  in  religion  and  politics.  Poel  had  spent  his  youth 
in  Bordeaux  and  Geneva,  and  then  studied  in  Gottin- 
gen.  For  some  time  he  was  engaged  in  Russian  diplo- 
macy, and  was  in  Paris  during  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  periods  of  the  first  Revolution.  Though 
admirably  fitted  for  political  activity,  he  early  retired 
from  it,  and  lived  privately  in  Altona.  His  merits 
were  universally  admitted,  and  all  who  knew  him  well, 
loved  him  for  his  benevolence  and  fine  moral  sense. 
In  October,  1837,  Perthes  wrote  :  ''  The  departure  of 
our  dear  Poel  has  deeply  moved  me  ;  there  were  few  I 
so  much  loved  and  honored.  He  was  not  only  a  dis- 
tinguished, but  a  very  singular  man, — singular,  because 


LAST   YEARS.  601 

his  name  and  his  person  remained  unknown,  while  his 
influence  was  widely  felt.  Many  leading  men  have 
taken  their  literary  and  political  bias  from  him." 

Perthes  had  had  his  kind  and  earliest  guardians — 
the  riding-master  Heubel,  and  the  old  Aunt  Caroline 
— spared  to  him  for  an  unusual  length  of  time,  and  as 
long  as  they  lived  he  kept  up  a  friendly  correspond- 
ence with  them,  and  paid  them  an  annual  visit.  After 
one  of  these  visits  he  wrote  :  "  It  is  singular  to  see  how 
the  old  times  and  the  present  are  peacefully  blended 
in  the  dear  old  man.  He  has  the  liberal  views  of  our 
day,  and  yet  he  considers  it  his  highest  honor  to  do 
his  duty  to  his  Prince  after  the  feudal  fashion,  and  the 
whole  princely  family  treat  him  as  a  venerable  relic 
of  antiquity.  When  the  Prince's  arrival  is  announced, 
the  old  man  throws  on  his  faded  uniform,  and  holds 
the  stirrup  while  his  master  descends.  Then  the 
Prince  takes  him  up  to  his  room,  and  empties  with 
him  a  bottle  of  wine  of  tlie  last  century."  "  Rare, 
very  rare,  is  it,"  wrote  Perthes  on  one  occasion  to  his 
aunt  of  eighty-three,  "  that  such  strength  and  clearness 
of  mind  as  God  has  given  you  should  endure  to  your 
age.  You  are  highly  favored  indeed, — you  can  think 
of  the  past  with  pleasure,  you  enjoy  the  peace  of  the 
present,  and  look  forward  w^ith  confidence  to  the  fu- 
ture. I  desire  to  say  with  you,  God  has  done  all 
things  well."  "  Thank  you,  dear  Fred,  for  all  your 
love,"  writes  his  old  uncle  to  Perthes,  after  receiving  a 
visit  from  him  through  snow  and  storm  ;  "  you  love 
me  now  just  as  you  did  sixty  years  ago,  when  you  used 
to  ride  upon  my  knee  ;  this  consciousness  is  ever  with 
me  in  my  solitude,  and  I  thank  you  for  it."  In  1835 
the  old  uncle  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-three,  and  in 


502  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

1838  the  old  aunt  followed,  aged  eighty-seven.  Per- 
thes wrote  to  Rist  as  follows  :  "  I  heard  yesterday  of 
the  death  of  my  dear  uncle  in  Schwarzburg.  He  was 
life-weary,  but  still  in  possession  of  all  his  mental 
faculties  :  he  had  lived  very  happily,  and  so,  God  be 
praised.  Schwarzburg  is  now  to  me  desolate  ;  the 
playground  of  my  childhood  is  no  more  ;  there  is  not 
a  Heubel  left  in  the  house  where  they  had  lived  for  a 
hundred  and  ten  years.  The  family  is  now  dispersed. 
So  goes  the  world  !  Who  can  suppose  that  this  is  our 
home !" 

Another  thing  that  reminded  Perthes  of  the  ap- 
proach of  his  own  death  was  the  dijfferent  impression 
now  made  upon  him  by  the  death  of  others.  We  find 
him  saying  :  "  Births  and  deaths,  deaths  and  births 
amongst  children  and  children's  children  have  com- 
passed me  round  during  the  last  few  months,  and  I 
have  had  to  look  upon  many  a  sick  and  dying-bed. 
My  affection  for  my  descendants  individually  is  not 
diminished  by  their  number  ;  but  the  wind  and  weath- 
er of  a  long  life  has  hardened  my  physical  frame 
against  sorrow,  and  my  soul  has  learnt  resignation  to 
the  loss  of  its  dear  ones.  Now  that  I  know  I  must 
soon  follow,  the  death  of  others  makes  quite  a  different 
impression  upon  me  to  what  it  did  in  youth,  when, 
though  one  indeed  acknowledged,  one  did  not  feel 
one's  self  mortal.  It  is  only  the  pain  of  suffering  chil- 
dren that  now  as  formerly  pierces  me  to  the  heart, 
and  doubting  questions  will  arise  in  connexion  with 
it.  In  grown-up  persons  one  knows  the  why  and 
wherefore,  and  the  sufferers  do  so  themselves,  or  at 
least  they  may  do  so."  The  thought  of  liis  own  age 
and  his  own  death  was  never  painful  to  Perthes  ;  on 


i 


LAST  YEARS.  503 

the  contrary,  he  used  continually  to  refer  to  it.  To- 
wards the  end  of  1842  he  writes  :  "  When  I  die,  the 
centre  of  a  widely  extended  family  will  be  taken  away, 
and  yet  it  is  scarcely  desirable  that  sucli  a  centre 
should  continue  very  long  after  one's  children  have 
acquired  a  position  of  their  own.  They  will  each  form 
their  own  new  and  special  circles  in  the  time  to  come. 
But  while  an  old  man,  with  remains  of  his  former 
strength,  sits  on  and  on  in  the  centre,  a  thousand  con- 
cessions are  made  to  him  by  all  the  other  families,  and 
horns  are  drawn  in,  which  are  intended  to  thrust  with 
vigorously,  or  to  be  rubbed  off  as  the  case  may  be. 
The  old  must  give  place  to  the  new !  And  as  to  the 
greybeard  himself ;  when  time  has  tugged  at  us  long, 
we  cease  to  do  more  than  vegetate,  we  become  a  bur- 
den to  ourselves  and  to  others,  and  what  is  worst  of 
all,  we  get  a  horrible  longing  for  a  still  longer  life. 
When  I  look  at  many  old  men  around  me,  I  am  re- 
minded of  Frederick  the  Great's  expostulation  with 
his  grenadiers,  who  demurred  at  going  to  certain 
death,  '  What,  you  dogs!  would  you  go  on  living  for- 
ever?''^ 

Again,  in  1841,  Perthes,  after  a  severe  illness,  writes 
to  Liicke  as  follows  :  •'  Recovery,  indeed,  one  may 
still  speak  of,  but  the  recovery  of  old  age  is  not  that 
of  youth."  About  the  same  time  he  wrote  to  Ullmann  : 
"  The  spring  is  glorious,  and  I  often  feel  overcome 
with  melancholy  at  the  thought  of  seeing  this  earthly 
splendor  but  a  few  times  more,  and  I  am  conscious  of 
the  same  sensation  in  contemplating  long  familiar  in- 
animate objects,  but  not  so  with  reference  to  my  living 
loved  ones  who  will  soon  follow  where  others  have 
gone  before."     "  I  yearn  for  the  repose  of  Friedrich- 


504  CAROLIXE    PERTHES. 

roda,"  wrote  he  in  the  spring  of  1842  to  Ullraann  ; 
"  perhaps  it  is  there  that  the  last  repose  of  all  will  be 
granted  me — gladly  would  I  rest  in  that  churchyard 
with  its  fir-trees.  It  is  not  my  physical  condition  that 
occasions  this  yearning,  but  I  discover  in  myself  an  in- 
creasing indifference  towards  all  temporal  matters ;  I 
feel  incapable  of  effort  for  anything  on  this  side  ;  I 
want  nothing  more  here  below." 

This  gradual  loss  of  interest  in  all  appertaining  to 
earth  showed  itself  in  the  diminished  importance  at- 
tached by  Perthes  to  his  own  external  liistory.  For- 
merly he  had  often  thought  of  sketching  out  his  career, 
but  the  pressure  of  business  had  prevented  his  doing 
so.  Latterly  he  lacked  the  inclination.  When  his  old 
friend  Runge  lost  all  his  papers  in  the  Hamburgh  fire, 
Perthes  wrote  to  liim  as  follows  :  ''  I,  too,  lost  most  of 
the  documents  relating  to  my  youth  at  the  time  of  the 
French  invasion.  True,  that  in  the  thirty  years  since 
then,  papers  enough  have  accumulated,  and  the  con- 
tents of  these  are  full  of  incident ;  but  in  these  rail- 
road times  of  ours,  would  they  have  an  interest  for  the 
next  generation?  I  do  not  think  so.  My  papers, 
dating  since  1813,  will  perish  as  did  the  earlier  ones. 
No  one  will  hunt  out  the  valuable  from  amongst 
the  mass,  and,  indeed,  why  should  they?  God  looks 
upon  and  cares  for  us  all  individually,  but  in  the  sight 
of  men  what  are  we  in  history,  but  as  one  faded  leaf 
in  autumn!  When  we  return  from  a  delightful  jour- 
ney, we  believe  that  we  shall  never  forget  its  inci- 
dents. Yet  when  a  few  years  are  over,  what  remains 
of  all  the  pleasures  and  interests,  which  written  down 
would  have  filled  volumes?  So  it  is  with  the  events 
of  our  life,  and  even  had  we  written  them  all  down 


LAST   YEARS.  505 

while  fresh  in  our  minds,  who  would  read  them  ?  Per- 
haps a  friend  immediately  after  our  death — later,  one 
or  two  lovers  of  old  stories — no  more,  unless  indeed 
the  autobiography  were  a  work  of  art,  like  Goethe's 
'  Wahrheit  und  Dichtung,'  owing  its  permanent  inter- 
est to  its  form  rather' than  to  its  contents.  Those  who 
come  after  us  have  their  own  life  to  occupy  them  :  out 
of  the  collective  existence  of  former  generations,  only 
the  results  abide,  the  summary  of  which,  we  call  his- 
tory. It  is  only  in  God's  sight  that  the  individual 
counts,  as  Job  and  David  prophetically  told  us,  and 
as  our  Lord  revealed."  Perthes  had  gone  in  the  May 
of  1842  to  his  beloved  Friedrichroda,  and  enjoyed  its 
repose.  He  wrote  to  one  of  his  sons :  "  May  this 
morning  be  as  fine  with  you  as  with  us !  the  old  sailor 
grown  grey  in  storm  and  calm  is  refreshed  by  the 
cheerful  stillness  of  such  a  day." 

In  the  middle  of  September,  when  the  cold  autum- 
nal mists  began  to  gather  over  the  hills,  he  returned* 
to  Gotha,  where  he  spent  the  first  winter  months  in 
his  wonted  health  and  vigor.  At  the  end  of  the  year 
he  wrote  to  his  sister-in-law,  Augusta  Claudius  :  "  I 
am  now  past  seventy  ;  I  can  still  walk  for  hours  over 
hill  and  dale,  and  I  can  work  from  eight  to  ten  hours 
without  tiring  my  eyes.  God  be  praised  for  it !  I 
can  understand  everything  said  to  myself,  but  general 
conversation  escapes  me.  I  comfort  myself  with  the 
thought  that  I  have  heard  enough,  but  I  am  sorry  to 
lose  the  prattle  of  my  three  little  girls  amongst  them- 
selves. A  certain  inward  feeling  tells  me  that  my 
life  will  not  last  more  than  two  or  three  years.  I  have 
long  fought  the  battle  of  life  ;  I  scarcely  dare  hope 
for  the  crown  of  life ;  but  I  know  that  the  prayer, 
22 


506  CAROLINE    PEIITHES. 

'  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner/  will  be  accepted  of 
God/'  A  few  days  later  he  wrote  to  Bunsen  :  "  I 
believe  that  my  end  is  not  very  far  distant ;  I  have  no 
longer  any  appetite,  not  even  any  spiritual  appetite 
for  what  is  on  this  side  the  grave.  My  soul  yearns 
for  more  certain  nourishment."  ' 


XLIL 

cf  klttij^is  mi  i^^tfe  — 1843. 

C  CORDING  to  custom,  all  Perthes'  children 
and  grandchildren  came  from  a  distance  to 
gather  round  him  on  Christmas  day.  On  this 
occasion,  none  were  kept  away  by  sickness, 
and  Perthes  enjoyed  himself  with  youthful 
glee  in  the  midst  of  forty-nine  of  his  descend- 
ants. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  year  he  wrote :  "  On  that 
holy  evening,  I  forgot  the  discomforts  of  my  present 
state,  but  I  was  reminded  of  them  on  the  following 
festival.  For  some  weeks  past,  I  have  had  premonitory 
symptoms  of  a  serious  illness  ;  my  sleep  is  broken,  my 
appetite  gone,  and  my  afternoon  hours  very  painful. 
I  have  been  really  ill,  and  still  am  so." 

Perthes  felt  so  convinced  of  the  approach  of  a  fatal 
illness,  that,  on  the  first  of  January,  he  made  the  follow- 
ing short  entry  in  his  journal :  "  My  state  of  health 
renders  it  unlikely  that  I  shall  ever  write  1844." 

His  illness  soon  proved  to  be  liver-complaint,  and 
assumed  the  form  of  jaundice,  towards  the  end  of  Jan- 
uary. For  some  months  he  varied  much — occasionally 
his  strength  would  sink  suddenly  as  though  a  rapid 
termination  were  at  hand,  and  then  he  would  unex- 
pectedly rally. 

(507) 


508  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

Towards  the  close  of  February  he  wrote  :  "  A  few 
weeks  ago  I  thought  the  end  of  the  journey  was  come  ; 
no\7  good  days  alternate  with  bad,  but  certainly  the 
progress  made  is  very  slow,  as  slow  as  the  pace  of  the 
Austrian  militia.  My  strong  constitution  struggles  hard 
to  throw  off  the  disease,  but  I  do  not  believe  it  will 
succeed."' 

"  Weary,  weary,"  wrote  he  a  few  weeks  later,  "  yet 
still  the  improvement  goes  on,  and  it  seems  as  if  I  might 
really  have  a  further  grant  of  life." 

Soon  after,  however,  came  a  change  for  the  worse, 
and  towards  the  end  of  March,  all  his  strength  appeared 
exhausted.  In  one  of  the  letters  written  at  this  time, 
we  find  it  said,  "  I  have  seen  Perthes  ;  his  appearance 
really  shocked  me ;  all  his  energy  is  gone,  his  voice  is 
weak,  and  every  movement  languid  in  the  extreme. 
There  he  is,  feebly  reclining  in  his  arm  chair,  and 
emaciated  to  the  last  degree.  This  change  is  the  more 
distressing  in  a  nature  so  elastic  and  energetic  as  his 
was  a  few  months  ago." 

Yet  while  he  had  any  remains  of  strength  left,  his 
worn-out  frame  was  still  the  obedient  instrument  of  his 
active  mind.  It  was  not  in  Perthes'  nature  to  lead  the 
passive,  supine  life  of  an  invalid.  The  health  that  he 
had  throughout  life  enjoyed  had  been  too  good  not  to 
lead  him  to  struggle  to  the  utmost  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  weakness.  As  long  as  it  was  possible, >he 
spent  each  day,  or,  at  least,  a  few  hours  of  each  day  in 
his  study,  and  when  unable  to  leave  the  sick-room,  he 
still  sat  up  dressed,  on  a  cliair  before  his  desk.  Even 
when  confined  to  liis  bed,  he  still  had  letters,  books, 
and  papers  spread  around  liim,  determined  that  his  life 
in  bed  sliould  make  as  few  concessions  to  sickness  as 


SICKNESS   AND    DEATH.  509 

possible.  As  long  as  he  could  help  himself,  he  did  not 
like  to  call  in  the  help  of  others.  He  once  remarked, 
that  his  wife  showed  herself  the  very  perfection  of  a 
nurse,  because  slie  never  proffered  help  when  he  did 
not  need  it.  As  it  had  always  been  his  wont  before 
taking  any  journey,  to  settle  his  affairs  as  completely 
as  though  he  did  not  expect  to  return,  and  to  have 
everything  ready  days  before  he  departed,  so  was  it 
now,  in  the  prospect  of  the  last  great  journey.  He 
most  punctually  discharged  every  obligation,  gave 
directions  to  his  son  Andrew,  who  was  to  carry  on  his 
father's  business,  made  his  will,  and  was  then  able 
undisturbed  to  await  the  hour  of  departure. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  claims  upon  him,  he  still 
found  time  to  write  numerous  letters  both  to  his  sons 
and  to  his  friends  and  acquaintance  ;  in  many  of  these 
he  entered  warmly  into  the  different  questions  of  the 
day.  Even  so  late  as  March,  he  took  undiminished 
interest  in  the  newly  published  volume  of  Hagenbach's 
History  of  the  Reformation,  and  in  Ranke's  German 
History. 

In  the  beginning  of  April,  his  son  from  Bonn  paid 
him  a  visit.  He  entered  as  freshly  and  fervently  as 
of  yore,  into  every  subject  of  conversation,  and  he 
could  still  make  many  a  playful  speech  about  a  letter 
which  came  from  the  Minister  von  Thiele,  earnestly 
requesting  him  to  attend  a  council  at  Berlin.  Indeed, 
tlic  friends  and  acquaintance  who  came  to  see  liim,  as 
soon  as  they  had  got  somewhat  accustomed  to  his 
aspect,  found  it  most  difficult  to  believe  him  so  near 
death. 

"  Perthes,"  wrote  a  friend,  "  belongs  to  that  class  of 
men  with  whose  every  idea  mental  and  bodily  health 


510  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

are  so  intimately  connected,  that  one  forgets  that  they 
too,  are  subject  to  the  universal  law  of  decay."  In  one 
letter,  written  about  the  end  of  March,  we  read,  "  I 
found  him  quite  unaltered  in  mind  and  heart ;  he  is  as 
bright,  friendly,  and  interesting  in  conversation  as 
formerly."  In  another  letter  :  "  Such  a  spirit  as  this 
is  mighty  indeed.  True,  it  has  lost  the  absolute 
mastery  over  the  physical  nature,  but  still  it  can  assert 
itself  and  force  that  nature  to  obey,  though  reluctantly, 
and  but  for  a  season.  I  was  often  surprised  to  see 
that  when,  towards  evening,  Perthes  lay  back,  weary 
and  worn,  a  little  mental  stimulus  availed  to  restore 
life  and  strength  even  to  the  body." 

Now,  this  in  Perthes  was  not  the  result  of  effort.  On 
the  contrary,  activity  was  now,  as  of  old,  the  law  of 
his  mind,  and  work  and  cheerful  conversation  were  as 
compatible  as  ever  with  the  interests  of  his  spiritual 
life.  During  the  years  preceding  this  illness,  Perthes 
had  already  attained  to  a  greater  mastery  over  the 
impetuosity  of  his  temperament.  Faith  and  love  had 
become  more  and  more  pervading  principles,  leading 
to  increased  humility  toward  God,  and  gentleness  to- 
ward man  ;  nay,  even  in  proportion  as  his  own 
convictions  became  stronger,  his  toleration  enlarged. 
No  one,  indeed,  knew  better  than  he,  that  he  was  not 
yet  a  conqueror. 

"  If  Paul,"  wrote  he,  "  had  to  complain  of  inward 
conflict  and  discord,  no  other  need  despair  because  he 
has  to  do  the  same.  All  that  man,  Christ  helping  him, 
can  attain  to  on  earth,  is  to  prevent  pride  and  sensual- 
ity ruling  in  him  absolutely,  constantly  to  figlit  against 
them,  and  to  bewail  their  remaining  power.  From  the 
first  days  of  the  Church,  external  methods  have  been 


SICKNESS   AND    DEATH.  511 

tried,  in  order  to  obtain  a  complete  victory,  and  each 
Christian  lias  his  own  special  means  towards  the 
attainment  of  this  end,  but  no  one  has  ever  attained  it, 
nor  ever  will.  Pain  and  sorrow  have  done  more  for 
me  than  joy  and  happiness  ever  did  :  the  prayer  for 
help  leads  to  resignation,  and  resignation  purifies  the 
soul ;  but  still  the  fight  goes  on  till  the  present  day. 
Let  us  fight  to  the  last,  my  dear  son !" 

Indeed,  Perthes  had  to  fight  to  the  end,  but  months 
of  sickness  blunted  many  sharp  weapons  of  the  enemy, 
and  matured  the  inward  and  spiritual  life.  The  weak- 
ness and  suffering  he  had  to  endure,  were  no  light 
trials  to  a  man  who  had  never  before  given  his  body  a 
thought  ;  but  no  one  ever  heard  him  murmur,  no  one 
ever  saw  him  out  of  temper,  his  patience  strengthened 
from  week  to  week,  he  was  always  kind  and  friendly, 
and  his  thankfulness  for  the  mercies  with  which  his 
life  had  been  filled,  never  forsook  him.  That  the  end 
was  drawing  near,  he  perfectly  knew  and  openly 
declared,  and  he  looked  forward  to  it  with  wonderful 
composure. 

To  Dorner  he  wrote :  "  The  consciousness  of  life 
being  quite  over,  is  to  me  a  very  peculiar  and  by  no 
means  depressing  feeling,  rather,  on  the  contrary, 
exhilarating.     I  am  full  of  thankfulness  to  God.'' 

Indeed,  as  far  as  man  could  judge,  Perthes  had  not 
for  one  moment  during  the  whole  of  his  illness,  to 
struggle  with  the  fear  of  death.  "  God  is,  for  His  Son's 
sake,  very  gracious  to  me  a  poor  sinner,"  was  his  con- 
stant exclamation  in  hours  of  pain. 

To  Neander  he  wrote  :  "  In  hope  and  faith  I  am 
joyfully  passing  over  into  the  land  where  truth  will  be 
made  clear,  and  love  pure." 


512  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

In  a  letter  written  early  in  April,  we  find  it  said  : 
"  Perthes  is  perfectly  reconciled  to  die,  he  is  calm  and 
confident.  Whether  this  present  confidence  and  calm 
will  abide  with  him  during  the  last  struggle,  he  does 
not  know,  for  nature,  he  says,  often  asserts,  her  sway 
most  strongly  when  just  about  to  lose  her  power  for 
ever  ;  and  that,  therefore,  there  may  possibly  be  before 
him  a  fearful  conflict,  a  seeming  despair,  a  cry,  '  My 
God,  my  God,  wherefore  hast  thou  forsaken  me !'  but, 
he  hopes  for  a  peacefiil,  placid  falling  asleep,  and  makes 
it  a  subject  of  prayer. 

"A  few  hours  after  he  had  said  this  to  me,  I  entered 
his  little  cabinet,  and  found  him  reclining  in  his  arm- 
chair, his  hands  folded,  his  eyes  closed,  peace  and  joy 
spread  over  his  countenance.  I  hoped  that  God  had 
heard  his  prayer,  but  it  was  not  so  ;  he  was  only  asleep, 
and  woke  up  cheerfully. 

Whenever  Perthes  needed  strength  and  comfort,  he 
sought  them  exclusively  in  the  Scriptures.  Not  one 
of  the  religious  works  to  which  he  had  owed  much 
during  life,  satisfied  his  present  need.  Formerly  he 
had  preferred  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  to  all  other 
portions  of  the  Bible  :  nor  did  he  lose  his  love  for  them, 
but  his  love  for  St.  John's  writings  increased.  As  of 
old  he  always  turned  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  so 
now,  however  he  might  be  engaged,  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John  was  always  open  before  him. 

Sometimes,  though  not  often,  his  thoughts  would 
wander  to  the  life  beyond  death.  "  In  a  week  or  fort- 
night I  shall  be  on  the  other  side,  and  yet  I  am  still 
without  any  previsions  as  to  the  nature  of  the  existence 
immediately  succeeding  my  death.  Shall  I  be  in  a 
state  of  painful  conflict,  sorrow,  and  struggle,  through 


SICKNESS   AND    DEATH.  513 

which  sin  will  be  finally  destroyed,  or  in  a  state  of 
profound  repose,  in  which  I  may  collect  myself,  and  in 
silent  resignation  be  healed  from  the  wounds  inflicted 
by  the  tumult  of  earthly  life  ?  Shall  I  be  a  fellow- 
worker  in  works  of  wisdom  and  love  ?  Will  a 
knowledge  of  the  mysteries  of  nature,  a  comprehension 
of  the  course  of  events,  or  companionship  with  those  I 
have  loved  on  earth,  be  granted  me  ?  AW  these 
questions  assume  just  before  our  death  a  very  different 
degree  of  importance  to  what  they  ever  had  before, 
and  yet  we  should  not  indulge  them,  since  no  answer 
has  been  vouchsafed." 

On  another  occasion  he  said  :  "  The  season  of  faith 
will  soon  be  over  for  me,  that  of  sight  is  near,  and  yet 
how  mysterious  the  word,  and  how  veiled  its  meaning 
— Sight !  I  shall  see  with  faculties  that  I  have  never 
possessed  here !  As  I  have  only  with  my  bodily  eyes 
beheld  the  visible,  with  my  ears  heard  the  audible,  so 
understanding,  feeling,  reasoning  have  only  afforded 
me  the  perception  of  this  or  that  aspect  of  truth,  not 
the  truth  itself.  Knowing,  in  fact,  is  not  seeing.  If 
I  am  to  see  I  must  have  a  new  spiritual  faculty  confer- 
red by  perfect  love,  in  order  to  make  the  reception  of 
perfect  truth  possible.  Fain  would  we  question  how 
this  will  be  brought  about,  but  be  it  unto  thy  servant 
according  to  thy  word." 

In  the  second  week  of  April,  there  was  another 
sudden  decrease  of  Perthes'  strength,  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  symptoms  grew  worse.  "  Yery  weak," 
"  very  wretched  sensations  ;"  these  are  frequent  entries 
in  his  journal  about  this  period.  On  the  15th  of  April, 
he  wrote  to  Bunsen  :  "  The  disease  does  not  yield, 
and  the  weakness  increases ;  you  must  not  be  snv-. 
22^ 


514  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

prised  if  the  tidings  sent  ere  long  be — '  He  died  of  old 
age.'" 

On  the  16th  of  April,  on  Easter  Sunday,  his  wife 
and  daughter  were  sitting  with  him  after  church ;  he 
made  them  give  an  account  of  the  sermon  they  had  just 
heard.  ''  Do  not,"  said  he  to  them,  "  speculate  or 
inquire  into  our  condition  after  death  ;  it  does  no  good, 
and  diverts  the  mind  from  the  main  point.  Hold 
simply  and  firmly  to  that  which  our  Lord  has  told  us, 
and  do  not  wish  to  know  more  ;  read  again  and  again 
the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth 
chapters  of  St.  John's  Gospel :  he  who  has  these  has  all 
he  needs  alike  for  life  and  death." 

During  the  two  last  months  of  his  life,  he  lived  on 
these  four  chapters,  and  the  nearer  he  approached  to 
death,  the  oftener  did  he  read  the  seventeenth. 

After  Easter  it  had  become  evident  to  him  that  he 
had  but  a  few  weeks  at  furthest  to  live  ;  indeed  he  gen- 
erally thought  his  last  hour  nearer  than  it  was. 

On  the  morning  of  the  21st  of  April,  his  birth-day, 
he  had  his  children  and  grand-children  assembled 
around  him.  All  were  sad  and  sorrowful,  but  he  lay 
in  his  room,  which  had  been  filled  with  spring  flowers, 
in  such  perfect  peace  and  joy,  that  it  was  impossible 
for  them  to  give  utterance  to  their  grief.  "  Should  it 
be  God's  will,"  said  he,  "  that  I  should  still  spend  a 
little  more  time  with  you,  I  shall  do  so  gladly,  and  I 
should  return  with  pleasure  to  my  dear  Friedrichroda  ; 
but  this  may  not  be.  A  rich  life  lies  behind  me  ;  I 
have  indeed  had  my  trying  days  and  liours,  but  God 
has  ever  been  gracious  to  me.  Do  not  mourn  for  me 
when  I  am  dead  ;  1  know  that  you  will  often  long  for 
me,  and  I  am  glad  of  it.     I  need  not  say  to  you  '  Love 


SICKNESS   AND    DEATH.  515 

one  another/  but,  so  bring  up  your  children  that  they 
also  may  do  so.  I  die  willingly  and  calmly,  and  I 
am  prepared  to  die,  having  committed  myself  to  my 
God  and  Fatlier.  Here  there  is  no  abiding  city,  we 
needs  must  part ;  death  cannot  harm  me,  it  must  be 
gain/' 

A  week  later,  on  the  29th  of  April,  he  believed  that 
his  last  hour  was  come.  He  had  no  pain,  but  he  was 
weak  in  body,  and  somewhat  depressed  in  spirits. 
During  these  days  he  lived  much  in  the  thought  of  his 
beloved  Caroline,  he  had  the  account  of  Claudius'  last 
days  repeated  to  him,  and  liked  to  have  his  wife  and 
daughters  constantly  near.  He  spoke  lovingly  to 
every  member  of  his  family,  and  when  night  came,  as 
no  one  else  was  able  to  do  so,  he  himself  read  out  with 
a  loud  voice  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John  from  beginning  to  end.  The  next  day,  Sun- 
day, he  felt  stronger.  His  eldest  son  Matthias  having 
arrived  from  Moorburg,  Perthes'  wife  sought  gradually 
to  prepare  him  for  this.  He  laughed  out  in  his  own 
old  way  and  said,  "  You  think  that  because  I  am  ill  I 
must  needs  be  nervous  too, — let  him  come  in  at  once. 
"  Nothing  in  this  world,"  said  he  repeatedly,  "  could 
have  given  me  more  pleasure  than  the  arrival  of 
Matthias."  He  was  often  able  clearly  and  connectedly 
to  converse  with  this  son  for  hours  together,  although, 
in  addition  to  his  extreme  weakness,  new  and  painful 
symptoms  had  just  set  in,  one  of  which  was  erysipelas 
in  tlie  head,  of  a  very  malignant  character.  But 
nothing  interfered  with  his  activity.  He  daily  trans^ 
acted  business  matters  in  the  clearest  and  most 
systematic  manner  with  his  son  xVndrew,  and  took  a 
cheerful  part  in  conversations  of  all  kinds  with  his 


516  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

friends  Ukert,  Ewald,  and  Archdeacon  Hey,  who  had 
been  for  many  years  his  spiritual  adviser. 

To  numbers  Perthes  had  been  a  counsellor,  to  num- 
bers a  benefactor,  and  he  had  friends  and  acquaintance 
in  every  part  of  Germany,  from  whom  he  now  rejoiced 
to  receive  letters  of  sympathy  and  affectionate  leave- 
taking. 

Schelling  wrote  saying  :  ''  It  was  so  comforting  to 
know  of  one  in  the  world  from  whom,  in  every  case  of 
need,  one  was  sure  of  sincere  sympathy,  loving  good- 
will, and  judicious  counsel." 

Perthes'  son  Matthias  had  written  from  his  father's 
dictation  a  farewell  letter  to  Rist,  which,  unfortunately, 
cannot  now  be  found.  Rist  answered  it  as  follows,  "  I 
have,  indeed,  had  much  to  bear  in  life.  I  have  had 
great  trials  and  great  blessings  appointed  me,  but  it 
remained  to  me  to  have  such  a  letter  to  receive  as 
yours  of  the  5th  of  May,  and  to  answer  as  I  now  do. 
My  hand  may  indeed  shake,  but  my  heart  is  undismay- 
ed ;  I  do  not  dread  to  look  upon  death,  with  which  I 
have  been  so  long  familiar.  I  draw  near  to  your 
sick-bed,  to  thank  you  for  your  remembrance  of  me  at 
such  a  time  as  this.  I  stretch  out  my  hand  to  say 
farewell,  if,  indeed,  it  must  be  so,  to  edify  myself  by 
your  courage,  faith,  and  joyful  trust  in  the  new  birth 
in  Christ  ;  I  desire  to  repeat  your  confession,  and  to 
make  it  mine.  I  hold  your  wife  and  children  happy  in 
that  they  stand  round  you,  and  I  greet  them  all.  My 
wife  has  still  tears  for  her  dear  old  friend,  to  whom 
she  bids  a  most  loving  farewell.  You  liave  been  much 
to  us,  your  memory  will  remain  with  us  all  as  a 
blessed  one.  Dare  I  express  a  hope  that  the  physicans 
may  be   deceived,  and   that  your  own  feelings  may 


SICKNESS  AND   DEATH.  517 

deceive  you  ! — And  now  farewell,  here  is  my  hand, — 
we  shall  meet  again,  dear  Perthes !" 

Perthes  had  many  a  personal  leave-taking  to  get 
over.  His  old  foster-father's  son,  Carl  Heubel,  to 
whom  he  had  been  himself  a  father,  had  come  over  from 
Leipzig  to  see  him  once  more.  Perthes  received  him 
with  heart-felt  pleasure,  and  sent  him  away  strengthen-, 
ed  and  supported. 

On  the  6th  of  May  he  bade  farewell  to  his  son-in-law 
William  Perthes,  who  was  obliged  to  leave  Gotha  for 
some  weeks.  He  keenly  felt  the  loss  of  this  man,  who 
had  been  for  five-and-thirty  years  very  dear  to  him, 
and  a  few  days  after  his  departure  expressed  a  wish  to 
see  him  again  ;  but  as  soon  as  he  heard  a  proposal  to 
send  for  him,  he  said,  "  No,  no  !  one  must  not  allow 
one's  self  everything  that  is  possible,  he  is  not  to  come, 
and  I  desire  you  to  obey  me,  and  by  no  means  to  sum- 
mon him." 

On  the  7th  of  May,  to  his  very  great  joy,  came 
Perthes'  sister,  Charlotte  Besser.  He  made  her  tell 
him  much  about  earlier  as  well  as  present  times,  and 
with  her  he  reviewed  once  more  his  whole  past  life. 

On  Monday  the  8th  of  May,  his  son  Matthias  went 
through  that  painful  parting  that  can  only  come  once, 
the  parting  from  a  dying  father.  Perthes  gave  him 
his  hand  with  a  look  of  deep,  earnest  love,  and  said  in 
a  tone  of  cheerful  confidence,  "  We  shall  meet  again.'^ 
"  I  used  to  think,"  he  had  said  a  few  days  previously, 
"  that  in  the  certainty  of  an  existence  in  God  above, 
all  desire  of  seeing  and  possessing  again  those  we  have 
loved,  would  disappear,  and  I  never  attached  much 
importance  to  the  personal  relations  between  man  and 
man  in  heaven  ;  but  I  have  changed  my  views  :  I  now 


518  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

hope  to  meet  and  enjoy  again  all  I  have  loved  on  earth, 
and  I  believe,  too,  that  I  shall  do  so." 

On  Thursday  the  9th  of  May,  Perthes  closed  his 
journal  with  the  short  entry,  "  Suffering  much  ;"  and 
from  that  time  forth  lie  could  not  raise  himself  without 
assistance.  Impressed  with  the  certainty  of  death 
being  close  at  hand,  and  with  the  desire  to  meet  it  in 
full  possession  of  his  consciousness,  he  lay  languid  and 
weary,  but  continually  praying  in  the  words  of  some 
of  his  favorite  hymns.  In  a  letter  written  at  this  time 
we  find  ;  "He  is  still  indescribably  patient,  he  never 
complains,  and  is  always  kind  and  cheerful.  To-day, 
he  said,  '  I  am  weak,  very  weak,  would  to  God  it  were 
the  last  weakness — my  pains  increase,  but  still  death 
tarries.^ " 

With  tenderest  affection,  and  with  the  composure 
and  energy  which  only  experience  can  give,  his  wife 
nursed  him  night  and  day  :  but  he  did  not  the  less 
appreciate  the  devotion  shown  him  by  others.  "  Do 
not,"  said  he  to  his  daughters,  "  sit  up  with  me  at  night 
— you  only  weary  yourselves,  and  things  will  get  worse 
still ;  and  yet,"  he  added,  a  few  minutes  afterwards,  "  I 
should  like  one  of  you  to  sit  on  my  bed  at  night,  so 
that  I  might  see  you  whenever  I  awoke." 

He  almost  always  lay  with  folded  hands,  often 
exclaiming,  "  Gracious  God,  help  me."  "  Come,  Lord 
Jesus  ;"  or,  "  Lead  me  not  into  temptation  ;"  or,  "  God 
be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner,  for  thy  dear  Son's  sake." 

Whenever  he  opened  his  eyes,  he  looked  lovingly  at 
whoever  was  sitting  by  him  ;  nodded,  or  stretched  out 
his  hand.  Even  during  these  last  days,  he  looked  out  a 
ring  for  his  grand-daughter,  Fanny  Becker,  on  the 
occasion  of  her   confirmation,   and   another   for   his 


SICKNESS   AND   DEATH.  519 

daughter  Agnes,  which  he  gave  her  in  a  basketful  of 
flowers  on  her  silver  wedding-day. 

The  10th  of  May,  was  the  eighteenth  anniversary  of 
his  own  second  marriage.  Much  and  long  did  he  and 
his  wife  speak  together  of  their  mutual  life,  and  then 
he  added,  "  Death  is  here,  and  I  am  conscious  of  a  most 
strange  feeling,  as  though  all  earthly  ties  were  dis- 
solving ;  but  there  is  no  expressing  this  in  words." 

His  intimate  friend.  Dr.  Madelung,  having  long 
promised  not  to  conceal  from  him  what  any  of  his 
symptoms  might  indicate,  he  now  asked  him  whether 
the  last  hours  were  come,  and  on  receiving  for  answer, 
"  Not  yet,"  he  said  in  a  melancholy  tone,  "  I  had  so 
confidently  hoped  to  die  to-day,  and  must  I  go  on 
living  ?"  Alas,  he  had  still  five  weary  days  and  nights 
before  him. 

On  Sunday  the  12th  he  was  lifted  into  his  arm-chair, 
the  erysipelas  had  struck  iuAvard,  and  his  agonies  every 
hour  increased.  Ice  was  laid  on  his  head,  and  opium 
given.  He  struggled  desperately  against  its  influence, 
and  though  sometimes  rendered  delirious,  he  yet  often 
by  an  efi'ort  collected  his  faculties,  said  what  he  wished 
to  say,  and  then  relapsed  into  a  dreamy  condition. 
He  spent  a  day  and  night  of  fearful  sufi'ering,  the  opium 
had  lessened  his  power  of  resistance,  and  agonizing 
cries  of  pain  escaped  him.  "  You  must  excuse  it,"  he 
once  said,  "  I  cannot  help  it,  and  I  have  not  any  teeth 
to  grind."  "  Oh  that  I  could  but  weep !"  said  he,  on 
another  occasion.  "  What  a  long  Sunday — it  is  a  hard, 
hard  battle  !     Help  me,  my  God,  and  send  me  death." 

But  there  were  words  of  resignation  and  trustfulness 
til  at  oltcrnated  with  these  cries  of  anguish.  While 
those  around  him  supposed  him  asleep,  he  began  in  a 


520  CAROLINE   PERTHES. 

low  touching  voice,  to  repeat  the  words  of  a  favorite 
hymn.  Another  time,  waking  from  a  kind  of  dream, 
he  exclaimed,  "  Herder,  on  his  dying  bed,  sought  only 
an  Idea  :  *  Light,  light,'  exclaimed  Goethe  ;  it  would 
have  been  better  had  they  cried  out  for  love  and 
humility."  Early  on  Monday  morning  he  became  free, 
not,  indeed,  from  pain,  but  from  the  influence  of  the 
opium  ;  and  trying  to  collect  his  thoughts,  he  asked 
his  daughter  what  had  been  the  matter  ?  whether  they 
were  angry  with  him?  whether  he  had  broken  any- 
thing ?  His  children  told  him  that  he  had  taken  opium, 
and  been  delirious.  At  first  he  repeated  their  words, 
as  though  he  could  not  quite  guess  their  meaning,  but 
when,  at  length,  it  broke  upon  him,  indescribable  love, 
peace  and  joy  overspread  his  whole  aspect,  he  drew 
his  weeping  daughters  towards  him,  laid  his  hands  on 
their  heads,  blessed  them,  and  prayed  long  and 
fervently. 

Even  after  this  distressing  night,  Perthes  had  still 
some  hours  of  unconsciousness ;  sometimes,  too,  he 
would  mistake  the  time,  and  find  some  difficulty  in 
recognizing  the  person  who  chanced  to  come  in ;  but 
he  was  never  again  delirious,  and  when  he  did  speak 
he  spoke  clearly,  and  with  a  kindness  which  was  heart- 
touching. 

He  had  done  now  with  earthly  things  ;  he  had 
neither  eaten  nor  drunk  any  tiling  for  weeks,  a  tea- 
spoonful  of  coffee  was  all  that  he  was  still  able 
occasion-illy  to  enjoy;  his  own  body  appeared  to  be 
something  detached  from  himself,  whose  sufferings  he 
contemplated  with  compassion.  He  loved  his  wife, 
his  children,  and  all  who  approached  him,  more  and 
more,  and  often  asked  them  to  place  themselves  so  that 


SICKNESS   AND   DEATH.  521 

he  might  see  them  all  at  once,  but  they  felt  that  he  did 
not  grieve  at  leaving  them  :  he  had  entirely  done  with 
this  life,  and  waited  in  perfect  composure  for  the  last 
great  moment.  He  did  indeed  long  inexpressibly  to 
be  with  God,  but  however  weary  this  mortal  life  now 
seemed,  he  never  lost  the  certainty  of  its  blissful  close. 
Those  around  him  heard  him  exclaim,  "  Thanks  be  to 
God  my  faith  is  firm,  and  holds  in  death  as  in  life ; 
for  His  dear  Son's  sake,  God  is  merciful  to  me  a  sinner !" 

On  Thursday,  the  18th  of  May,  the  doctor  was  able 
to  tell  him  that  all  would  soon  be  over.  He  had  no 
longer  any  actual  pain,  and  on  being  asked  whether 
his  dreams  were  distressing,  he  answered,  "  No,  no, 
not  now  ;  once  distressing,  now  delightful."  Some- 
times he  would  pray  aloud  and  repeat  hymns  in  a  firm 
voice.  But  for  the  most  part  he  lay  there  peaceful  and 
joyful,  and  the  peace  and  joy  that  God  had  granted  him, 
prevaded  all  that  were  near.  "  When  he  folded  his 
cold  hands,''  wrote  one  of  his  daughters,  "  and  prayed 
from  his  inmost  soul,  we  too  were  constrained  to  fold 
our  hands  and  pray,  it  was  all  so  sublime,  so  blessed, 
we  felt  as  though  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  were  with  us 
in  the  room." 

"The  last  conflict  is  severe,"  we  find  it  said  in 
another  letter,  "  but  we  see  with  our  own  eyes  that  he 
can  overcome  it  in  love,  and  without  pain  or  fear.  The 
last  enemy  loses  all  his  terrors  for  us,  and  the  resur- 
rection seems  nearer  us  than  the  death." 

About  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  an  intimate  friend, 
the  court-preacher  Jacobi,  came  in.  Perthes  opened 
his  languid  eyes,  and  stretched  out  his  hands  to  him, 
saying,  "For  the  last  time  ;  it  will  soon  be  over,  but  it 
is  a  hard   struggle."     About   seven,  Jacobi  and  the 


622  CAROLINE    PERTHES. 

Doctor  left  him  ;  at  eight  his  breathing  became  slower 
and  deeper,  but  without  occasioning  any  distress. 
His  whole  family  stood  round  him.  Perthes  had  fold- 
ed his  hands,  and  for  a  short  time  prayed  aloud,  but 
his  speech  had  now  become  inarticulate  :  only  the  oft- 
repeated  words,  "  My  Redeemer — Lord — forgiveness," 
could  be  distinguished.  It  had  now  grown  dark. 
When  lights  were  brought  in,  a  great  change  was 
visible  in  his  features,  every  trace  of  pain  was  gone, 
his  eyes  shone,  his  whole  aspect  was,  as  it  were,  trans- 
figured, so  that  those  around  him  could  only  think  of 
his  bliss,  not  of  their  own  sorrow.  The  last  sounds 
of  this  world  that  reached  the  dying  ear  were,  "  Yea, 
the  Lord  hath  prepared  blessedness  and  joy  for  thee, 
where  Christ  is  the  Sun,  the  Life,  and  the  All  in 
All." 

He  drew  one  long  last  breath  ;  like  a  lightning  flash, 
an  expression  of  agony  passed  over  his  face,  and  then 
his  triumph  was  complete.  It  was  within  a  few 
minutes  of  half-past  ten.  Immediately  after  death  a 
look  of  peace  and  joy  settled  on  his  face. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  2 2d  of  May,  he  was 
buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Gotha,  and  his  favorite 
hymn  was  sung  around  his  grave  : 

What  can  molest  or  injure  me  who  have  in  Christ  a  part  ? 
Fill'd  with  the  peace  and  grace  of  God,  most  gladly  I  depart. 


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